A Quell of Heartbreaks
by Ravendors
Summary: Haymitch and Maysilee have only spoken a few times but when they are both reaped into the Hunger Games they find an unexpected alliance in each other...and maybe something more.
1. The Reaping

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**Update 9/5/11: ****We added Haymitch's pov to this chapter instead of making it a chapter on it's own.**

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><p><strong>Maysilee<br>**

It's dawn. I only slept a few hours last night due to the anxiety that this day brings each year. I turn to my sister, my twin, and notice that she is lying awake in her bed.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

"I'm the same as usual on this morning each year, terrified." She responds.

Today is the day of the reaping. Each year one boy and one girl will be reaped from a list of tributes to represent their District in a televised event in an arena where the tributes must fight to the death. But this year it's worse, it's the Quarter Quell. Every 25 years marks a special Hunger Games. This will be the second one, and this year double the number of tributes will be competing. Instead of 24, two from each district, there will be 48. Twice the odds of your name being chosen and if your name is chosen, half the odds of you making it out alive.

While I feel the same way I try to swallow my fear and reassure her, "Myrella, our odds are very slim compared to the others in the Seam that have to sign up for tesserae. It's been five years since the last merchant tribute was chosen from district 12."

Tesserae is a grain that we are allowed to sign up for to receive each month for our family. In exchange we have to enter our name into the reaping one more time for each member in our family. Each year we are allowed to do this, and the number of times our names are entered into the reaping adds up with each year. This year my name will be put on a slip to be put into the reaping bowl 15 times, while most kids from the seam my age have double that many number of slips.

"I know, but what if this is the year one of us is chosen? Our odds are doubled Maysilee! Even worse, what if we are both chosen!

That's when I know this isn't just about her fear of one of us going in, it's about both of us going in and only one being able to come out. While I've dwelled on this before, many times over the last few weeks as I'm sure she has, I'm quick to try to put that part of her fear to rest.

"The odds of that happening are so slim, let's not dwell on that right now. We just need to keep thinking positively that we'll both make it through the day, together."

"Okay," she whispers back, and I know she won't stop thinking about it until the end of the reaping.

"Come on, let's get ready and go meet Laurel in the square.

When we reach the square many others are already there. They rope off the potential tributes by age. We spot Laurel in the 16 year olds area and go to stand by her. She's our best friend, with waist length blond hair and blue eyes. We grew up together and she's one of the few that can tell Myrella and myself apart. Each of us claps hands, not saying a word. It comforts each of us without having to discuss our worries of what could happen in the next few hours.

The mayor gives his speech, the same speech he's been giving for as long as I can remember. The speech describes how Panem was formed, the formation of the Districts and the subsequent rebellion, and finally why the Hunger Games were formed. To show to districts that the Capitol is not to be underestimated, that they are the ones with power. There used to be 13 districts. The thirteenth was annihilated, made into an example of what could happen when you defy the capitol. Now each year we participate in the Hunger Games without fighting back in order to protect our districts.

District 12's escort makes her way to the center of the platform to read the names of this year's District 12 tributes.

"Hello boys and girls, it's another exciting year of the Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor!" she says brightly.

Her hand reaches into the reaping bowl containing the names of the potential girl tributes. My heart quickens like it does every year that I've stood here hoping that my name never is chosen, and when she pulls out the slip for the first girl my breath catches and my heart stops when she calls the name, "Maysilee Donner!"

**Haymitch  
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I wake up to my mother crying. She cries every year on reaping day. Well at least for the past for years, since I've had to put my name in the drawing. Every year I have to put my name in the drawing for the Games. These Games are the reason my mother cries.

Every year I have to put my name in the drawing to be selected as one of the boy victims for the Capitol's "entertainment". The entertainment is where a boy and a girl from each district are forced to fight each other to the death in an arena, while the capitol people take wagers and laugh at us. And it's all punishment for us defying them fifty years ago.

This year is a little different though. This year is a quarter quell. So not only are we thrown together to violently kill eachother, there is a little twist. We just found out last night that for the fiftieth Quarter Quell, '_As a reminder that two rebels died for each capitol citizen, every district is required to send twice ans many tributes_'. And this year my brother, Eric, is twelve. That doesn't help my mother, now that both of her children are old enough to be put up for slaughter. So this year my brother gets entered. Just like me. Only, he doesn't have as many slips of paper with his name in the selection. In fact, I have my name in there twenty times. Five because I have to. One for every year I have been eligible for this and sixteen more for the grain that I get if I choose to enter my name for each family member. That's three more for each year. And the entries just keep adding up. He only has one.

My brother is scared. Of course he is. We all are. This is the first reaping where he not only has to hope that my name doesn't get called, but that his doesn't as well. He woke up many times last night from the nightmares about the reaping. All of his fears coming true. In all honesty, I would have those nightmares too, if I slept the night before the reaping. But I don't. I never do. And I always keep myself preoccupied on reaping day, before I go to the city square and listen to the names being drawn.

Today, I'm walking around town making conversation with the townsfolk. Normally, I'm not this social but it keeps my mind off things. I do some trading and get lunch for today. And then I can't find anything else to do. I go home to my mother and Eric for lunch.

We eat in silence. I know my mother will start crying again if we say anything. And Eric looks like he's going to be sick. And when we are done eating, we just sit there and stare out the window at the birds flying by.

At one forty-five we head down to the square. People are already making wagers about who they think are going into the arena. Parents, mothers, are already crying at the thought of losing their children. Especially since there are going to be two extra tributes this year. Eric and I head to the front and I show him where to stand with the other twelve year olds. Then I head back to the sixteen area and wait for it to begin. I have a bad feeling about this.

The bell chimes and it's two o'clock. The mayor starts his speech about the hunger games. I never listen. If my names drawn, I'm not going to give a crap about the reasoning behind why I'm forced to kill other people and why other people will be hunting me down. I'm still going to hate it.

"Now it is time for the reaping." The mayor says.

District twelve's escort walks over to the glass ball and talks about how great of an honor it is to be a tribute.

"Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor. Ladies first!" She sounds excited. That kind of irritates me.

"Here we go." I whisper.

"Maysilee Donner!" She shouts. I look over to where the gasps came from. There she is clinging on to her twin sister, Myrella, and their friend Laurel. She slowing lets go of them and walks up to the front. I feel bad for her. I've seen her at school. It's sad that such a nice girl got called for the reaping. Another girl gets called.

"It's the boy's turn now!" She still sounds excited, possibly even more so. She reaches her hand in the glass bowl and pulls out some boy's name that I do not know. One more. If my name is going to get called the odds are really slim.

She pulls out the final slip and read, "Haymitch Abernathy!" Nope, fate apparently doesn't agree with me today.


	2. Goodbyes

**Maysilee**

I pause and then disengage myself from Myrella and Laurel, and make my way to the stage. Once I'm there it takes all my strength to keep from crying when I look over and see that my sister and best friend are clutching each other and silently crying themselves. I'm too overcome with emotions to notice the name of the next girl to be called. It's not Myrella or Laurel as neither has stepped forward and that's all that matters. The next thing I register is Rosale Hunter, district twelve's escort, is calling out the name of the first male tribute.

"Jarod Hale!" shouts Rosale.

Shortly after she calls the name of the last tribute from district 12, "Haymitch Abernathy!"

Nothing registeres in my mind of the other tributes as we all shake hands. I'm not really paying attention. I am focused on trying not to break down in front of the cameras before we are whisked to the Justice Building to say our final farewells to our friends and family.

The peacekeepers escort me into a room off the main entrance to the Justice Building. It contains a velvet couch, and a couple of chairs for seating. The first ones to walk into the room to see me off are my mother, father, and sister. Tears cascade down my mother and sisters' faces. I can tell my father is sad too but he tries to keep it together for them. They all walk over to the couch where I'm sitting and hug me. That's when I start crying. My mother rubs my back to try and sooth me, but it doesn't help knowing that this could be last time I see her. When the peacekeepers come in to signal time is almost up my mother tells me she loves me and will be rooting for me all the way and she knows I'll make it back okay. Myrella talks about how great it will be to have Damon Antony as my mentor. I agree, he was great in his Games but it has been 10 years and let's just say not one tribute from district 12 has become victor since. The thought doesn't due me much help but I appreciate the thought so I just smile at her as if the prospect at having Damon as my mentor is reassuring. My father tells be to stay strong and when the peacekeepers come back and tell my family to leave we all exchange hugs and 'I love you's one last time. As my father hugs me he slips me a pin and tells me to use it as my district token. He tells me it has been in the family since the rebellion started and then follows my mother and sister out the door.

While I wait to see Laurel I examine the pin. It's a mockingjay, which was the mascot for the rebels during the districts' attempt to overthrow the Capitol. I don't see how this could be allowed to be used as a token but I know my father wouldn't have given it to me if he didn't think I would be able to bring it into the arena with me. So I slip the pin into my pocket and wait for Laurel to arrive.

In a few minutes she does and we just sit in silence most of the time. I do manage to tell her to make sure to look after my sister, not that I don't think she will anyways, but I feel better making sure I get that request said before the peacekeepers arrive to announce that our time is up. We hug and she leaves. Then Rosale is at the door telling me it's time to head to the train station.

Myself and the three other tributes gather at the entrance to the Justice building and take a car to the train station along with Rosale and Damon. We arrive in less than ten minutes and then we each pile out of the car and make our way to the platform as the cameras watch our assent. Then we wave to the district and board the train.

I've never been on a train before. None of us have. The only ones that have in the districts are those that are chosen to be tributes. It's very fancy and elegant and we each have our own rooms on the train. We are told to do whatever we want to until dinner so I make my wait to my room and lay on the bed until there's a knock on the door telling me it's time to make my way to the dining room for dinner.

When I arrive I notice that I'm the second tribute to arrive and as I take my seat the other female tribute arrives. We wait another five minutes and just when I don't think anyone else is coming; Haymitch walks in and takes the seat next to mine.

Soon Rosale launches in to how exciting it is this year since there will be more of a challenge with twice the amount of tributes and how lucky we all are to be a part of the second quarter quell. None of us offers a reply to that, how can we when we aren't excited one bit about the games and most of us are emotionally exhausted? Not to mention Damon is downing the wine likes it water so he doesn't add much to the conversation.

But then Haymitch says sarcastically, "Yeah we're thrilled."

Rosale, who must not know the concept of sarcasm, takes his statement for face value and proclaims, "That's the spirit!" She tries to engage us all in other topics but after only getting a few words of reply back she stops and we all finish our meals in silence. As we get up to head to our rooms Rosale adds, "Get a good night's sleep because tomorrow we will be arriving in the capitol!"

**Haymitch**

I stand there with my mouth hanging open. How could my name have been chosen? I only had twenty slips with my name on them. How? There are other boys my age with more. More mouths to feed, more grain needed. This is exactly what my mother feared. What I feared. I walk up to the front of the square. As I step on the stage, Rosale Hunter is finishing her speech.

"So we have Maysilee Donner, Lucy Payton, Jared Hale, and Haymitch Abernathy!" She shouts with even more excitement. I swear if she doesn't shut up I'm going to have to make her. She has too much enthusiasm about teenagers fighting to death. We have a mentor for the duration of the games. Damon Antony. He is the only District Twelve winner in the history of the games.

I look back at the crowd. I look my mother in the eyes and for once, I don't see the tears coming. Instead, her eyes look distant and then she passes out. I look at my brother and he is fighting the crowd. Trying to reach me, not knowing what to do. I don't even know what to do.

I shake hands with the other tributes. It is required of us. And we are ushered towards the Justice Building. We will be able to meet with our families and friends one last time, to say goodbye. As we probably won't make it out of this alive. Out of the forty-eight tributes, only one will survive. Only one will be allowed to survive. I'll probably never see my mother or my brother again.

I'm practically thrown into a room by myself, waiting for the people that are coming to say goodbye to me to come. Eric walks in, supporting my mother, who looks like she's about to be sick.

Eric puts my mother in a chair by the door and comes to me.

"I love you Haymitch. Kick some butt out there." He says. And he gives me a hug.

"Love you to, kid." I say. "Be strong, for both you and mom. Make sure that you take care of yourselves. I want to have a family to come back to if I win this thing."

"You're better than all of them, Haymitch. You better win this thing!" He says.

"I'll do my best." I reply. I don't want to give him false hope. There is absolutely no guarantee that I will even live though the first day.

I look at my mother. She started crying again. I'm not surprised. Her oldest son is probably going to die, and she knows it. I walk over to her and hold her hand.

"I love you, mom." I say. She grabs my neck and pulls me into a hug. She cries even harder than before, mumbling something about my father and me. My father died a few years ago. He got drunk and started shouting about how stupid the capital was and some peacekeepers heard. They locked him up while they decided what to do with him and when he didn't shut up, they chose to do away with him.

The peacekeepers come to tell my family it's time to go. We exchange a last goodbye and they leave me alone in this room. I don't talk to many people so I don't think anyone else will visit. I'm right. The Peacekeepers come in to take me to the car that drives me to the train station. There are so many reporters at the train station. I'm tempted to tell them that they are all idiots and that they need to leave, but I knew that would cause more harm than good to me in the arena. The more sponsors I could get, the better. If I irritate the public, they won't give Damon the money to buy things I may need later on to save my life.

We board the train and I am taken directly to my room. It's a bigger room than any place in my house. I live in the "Seam", pretty much the poor section of district twelve, where all of the coal miners work. It has a window to look outside as we traveled to the Capitol. We'll arrive in the morning. But for now, I have to wait in my room until I am summoned for dinner. Rosale said she would retrieve me and take me to the dining hall.

So while I wait for dinner, I have no idea when that will be, I explore my room. There is so much stuff that we don't have at home in the Seam or even District Twelve. There are more clothes in the closet here than there has ever been at my house. There was a huge bed. Just for me. Once I was done going through my room, I was bored and decided to take a walk on the train. I walked through several compartments and found a balcony at the end of it. I watched as District Twelve faded into the darkness of the night. Goodbye is the last thought I have on my mind as the brightest light on the Justice Building fades. I know the odds of me ever coming back are pretty slim. I'm up against forty-seven other people. Forty-seven other people that are all trying to be the one to survive. Forty-seven people that are all trying to kill me.

Now as I stand here, I realize that I'm starving. I'm not sure if Rosale has come to my room to take me to dinner. She probably has. I should find the dining car.

I walk back the way I came and hoping the dining car is close by. After about ten minutes of looking, I finally found it. I sit next to one of the girl tributes. Maysilee.

As soon as I sit down, Rosale starts raving about how excited she is for the games this year.

"It's going to be so exciting! Twice the number of tributes! That means more action! This year is going to be excellent. You guys are so lucky to be the tributes this year! Though I do have to say, Damon, you are going to have more work to do this time. Are you sure you are going to be able to handle this?" She just keeps going and I am so close to shouting at her or throw my plate at her or something. I'm not sure yet. Damon is so drunk though he doesn't respond to her question. But that still doesn't stop her.

"We are going to have the best games ever, this year!" She says.

"Yeah, we're thrilled" I say through gritted teeth. I couldn't help it. And I think I've finally got her to shut her big, fat, stupid mouth. I'm pretty pleased with myself. At least I didn't throw anything at her. That would have caused a problem.

"That's the spirit!" She says. I am looking at her with disbelief. I'm clenching my fists under the table. Now, I am really fighting the temptation to throw something at her. She keeps trying to talk more, but she finally understands that nobody is listening to her. When we are finished with our meals, we get up and say goodnight before heading to our rooms.

As we are heading toward the door Rosale says, "Get a good night's sleep, because tomorrow we will be arriving at the Capitol!"


	3. The Train Ride

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

I awake to a knock on my door from Rosale.

"Up up up, it's going to be an exciting day!" she proclaims.

I groan and stretch as I sit up. I look at the clock and notice it's only six a.m., it's going to be a very long day.

We still have the remaining trip to the Capitol to endure and then most of our day will be preparation for the Opening Ceremonies. The Opening Ceremonies showcase all of the tributes together for the first time for all of Panem. While it's a huge deal for the Capitol it's just another part of the horrible games that we are required to watch in the Districts.

I nod hello to Rosale and Jarod who are the only ones in the dining car aside from the attendees when I arrive. I sit down and begin to fill my plate with food while we wait for the others. I only chose the simpler foods to each because last night it took me awhile to fall asleep due to an upset stomach from eating the Capitol's more elaborate rich food that we don't have in the districts. While I eat Rosale tells us about life in the Captiol, and some of the things we can enjoy if one of us becomes victor. I reply with a, "oh, that's nice" and "cool", or "awesome" here and there must mostly I just listen to the other two talk as I eat.

When I've finished my toast the other female tribute from twelve, Lucy Payton, walks in and I can immediately tell that she's been crying. Her eyes are puffy and bloodshot. She comes and sits beside me and I offer her my hand for support. While she is my enemy I feel sorry for her. I've seen her in school and we've talked on occasions and she's a nice girl. Plus I have to admit it comforts me to have someone beside me that I know, so I push away thoughts of what is to come and the fact that she might kill me in the arena from my mind and I enjoy the feeling as best I can.

Ten minutes later, while Rosale is explaining the protocol for today once we reach the capitol, Haymitch walks in. I'm not really surprised by his tendency to turn up late. I've seen him at school and he generally tends to hang out by himself. All the girls swoon over him because he has the mysterious vibe, and not to mention he's gorgeous. He has dark curly hair, bright grey eyes, and a muscular build. I don't have a crush on him, I swear, it's just hard to deny his good looks. I realize I've been staring and quickly avert my gaze back to my plate, hoping no one noticed.

As Haymitch takes his seat and starts to pile food onto his plate Rosale continues with her speech, "As I was saying, before Haymitch came in, that today is the opening ceremony. You will all meet with your stylists when we arrive to be cleaned and dressed up. Then you will attend the ceremony. You will try to make an impression on the people of the Capitol. After President Snow has had his speech, we will attend dinner and you will be briefed on the protocol for tomorrow's schedule. Are there any questions?"

Immediately Haymitch fires one off, "Yes, I have one. What happens if we skip the opening ceremony?"

Why is he asking, I wonder? Obviously it's required to attend, everyone knows that. Personally, I think he's just trying to get a rise out of Rosale.

"That is not an option, Haymitch, my dear. Attendance is mandatory." Rosale replies.

"Well, let's just say that if one of the tributes, say me for example, is hiding somewhere when it is time for the ceremony to start, what would happen?" he presses.

Really, I think, what does he think he is going to gain by pressing the matter?

"There are cameras everywhere, Haymitch. We would find you very easily. And if that was to happen, then the gamemakers would make your time in the arena extremely difficult." Damon naps at him.

"So is that how you guy knew I was in the shower? I don't really like the idea of people watching me while I am in the shower" Haymitch replies angrily.

I blush at the thought of Haymitch in the shower, at this moment I'm thankful that everyone is paying so close attention to the argument that they don't notice me blushing. My next thought creeps me out, the Capitol is watching us shower? Now I know I'll never stop being paranoid of the potential cameras everywhere in the Captiol.

During the few seconds that it takes for this to run through my head Rosale has tried to respond to Haymitch but Damon cut her off and said, ""Haymitch, shut up. You are annoying me."

"Well, good." He replies. "I wasn't trying to please you."

Haymitch will be lucky to make it past the first day with that mouth, I think to myself.

"Well maybe you should. In case you have forgotten, I am the one that signs off on all of your sponsors and if you aggravate me, I'm going to slack off on that."

Yep, Haymitch is definitely not going to make it.

Right then the trains comes to a halt and we are told to get out belonging from our rooms. Great timing, I'm not sure Haymitch would have made it to the Capitol, much less the arena, alive if that conversation kept going.

When everyone makes their way to the main car of the train the door is opened and we all step foot into the Capitol.

**Haymitch**

Knock, knock, knock. I stir in my sleep. I register in my mind that someone is knocking on my door. I'm getting pretty annoyed.

Knock, knock, knock. I put my pillow over my head and try to go back to sleep.

Knock, knock, knock! I look at the clock. It's six o'clock in the morning. If I hear that knock one more time…

Knock, knock , knock! I chuck the clock at the door. It made a pretty loud bang, I think I put a dent in the door. Oh well. It's the Capitol. They have the money to fix it, so why not make them use it.

"Haymitch! Time to get up! Today is a big day!" Rosale knocks on my door again. How is it that I could give this idiot all of the attitude and sarcasm have and I still can't discourage her! Nothing I do or say can make her shut up and leave me alone.

"Leave me alone, you idiot!" I shout.

"Oh come on, dear. Today is a big day! We will be arriving at the capital in an hour. It's time for breakfast." She says, if possible, even more happily and cheerful than before. Oh, how much I hate the Capitol.

"How many ways do I have to show her that I don't give a crap about the Capitol and what she has to say, before she finally gets the picture and leaves me alone?" I mumble as I climb out of bed.

I decide that I am going to take my time getting to breakfast. I don't really want to see Rosale anyway. So I hop in the shower and I'm in there for a good twenty minutes before a speaker scares the crap out of me and I slip and fall.

"Haymitch Abernathy. You are wanted in the dining car immediately. Please get out of the shower, get dressed, and head that direction please." A robotic voice commands.

Wow. How creepy is that? They know when I'm in the shower and when I'm taking too long they yell at me to get out. What is wrong with these people?

I stand up and grab a towel. What am I going to wear? Oh wait. I have a ton of clothes in the closets. I still haven't gotten used to that fact. I find some nice jeans, t-shirt, socks, tennis shoes and get dressed. I've never had clothes this nice before. I head to the dining car when I'm finished. Of course, everyone is already there before me. Again.

I load my plate up with food. Eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins, and even some fruit, are all being piled up onto my plate. I can see it on her face that my lateness and lack of manners are getting on Rosale's nerves. Finally, something that will aggravate her. Success.

"As I was saying, before Haymitch came in, that today is the opening ceremony. You will all meet with your stylists when we arrive to be cleaned and dressed up. Then you will attend the ceremony. You will try to make an impression on the people of the Capitol. After President Snow has had his speech, we will attend dinner and you will be briefed on the protocol for tomorrow's schedule. Are there any questions?" Rosale asks.

"Yes, I have one. What happens if we skip the opening ceremony?" I ask. I can't help myself.

"That is not an option, Haymitch, my dear. Attendance is mandatory." She replies.

"Well, let's just say that if one of the tributes, say me for example, is hiding somewhere when it is time for the ceremony to start, what would happen?" I press. Man, this is too much fun.

"There are cameras everywhere, Haymitch. We would find you very easily. And if that was to happen, then the game makers would make your time in the arena extremely difficult." Damon butts in.

"So is that how you guy knew I was in the shower? I don't really like the idea of people watching me while I am in the shower" I say, finally getting that off of my chest.

Rosale tries to come up with a response, but Damon cuts her off, "Haymitch, shut up. You are annoying me."

"Well, good." I say. "I wasn't trying to please you."

"Well maybe you should. In case you have forgotten, I am the one that signs off on all of your sponsors and if you aggravate me, I'm going to slack off on that."

The train pulls into the station. Good timing too. We get up and gather any personal belonging left it our room. We weren't allowed to bring anything with us on the train except what we were wearing and an item to support our district.

I meet the others at the main car and we brace ourselves as we make our way off the train to the Capitol.


	4. The Remake Center

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

Once we step foot out onto the platform I'm not able to take much in because we are quickly whisked off into a car to be taken to the Remake Center. All I could comprehend was bright colors and lots of people.

When we arrive at the Remake Center we are ushered to separate rooms to be made up for the Opening Ceremonies.

I'm pushed into a room and then I hear the door click closed behind me. I notice a table with a mirror surrounded by lights on all borders and a chair situated in front of it. I make my way to the chair and sit down and wait for my prep team to arrive. As I wait I scan the rest of the room and my eyes land on a rack with what must be my costume hanging from it in zipped up bags. I can't see inside the bags and I instantly become nervous. We are all supposed to be costumed according to what product our district produces. Mostly the tributes from twelve are dressed in hideous minors' outfits, but there have been other occasions were the outfits have been way more mortifying. One year the tributes were stark naked and covered in coal dust! The thought terrifies me. While I don't care if I look gorgeous for the Capitol or the districts I still want to get sponsors, and usually the most attractive tributes acquire the best sponsors. Sponsors can send you things in the arena and sometimes it can make the difference between your life and death. One year a girl who was on death's door was sent what was perceived to be a metal looking pencil but when the top was pressed down it turned into a spear. That girl went on to becoming that year's victor. So I silently pray that I will be dressed in something absolutely stunning.

Five minutes later my prep team arrives. I'll never be used to the style in the Capitol. It's something of a joke in the districts. You can see anything from purple skinned people to people with studs sticking out of their skin!

My team consists of two girls and one guy, all of whom seem to be in their mid-twenties. One of the girls, who I learn is named Ophie, has straight blonde hair with light blue highlights and light blue skin. She also has darker blue swirl tattoos covering her arms and face. I think it's safe to assume she's fond of the color blue. The other girl, Tara, is purple skinned with pink hair and a golden crown positioned in her hair. The guy, Caius, has curly orange hair and is green skinned. I don't see how this is fashionable; he looks like a carrot to me.

The prep team goes to work removing all the hair from my body, aside from my head, which stings like you can't imagine! Then they lather my body with a lotion that soothes my aching skin.

"You're so lucky to be apart of a legendary Quarter Quell!" Tara exclaims while she styles my long blonde hair.

"It will be…interesting" I reply. It was the best thing I could come up with that didn't agree or disagree with her comment. While I am not thrilled to be apart of the games at all I don't want to start arguments with these people. I'm not a fan of arguing, even if it's with people from the Capitol that I have never met.

Ophie, who is working on my makeup, then goes on to say, "Your adorable, you'll be sure to have tons of sponsors! I bet you even have all the boys lined up for you back home!"

Her comment makes me blush, which I seem to be doing a lot of lately, as my mind turns to Haymitch and I wonder what he is doing right now. Probably arguing with his prep team.

While the girls have been doing my hair and makeup, Caius has been working on my nails. Trimming and painting them black which must be a representation of the black coals back home. He asks me a question that catches me off guard due to the fact that it has nothing to due with the Quell or looks, "How are you doing without your twin sister?"

First off I'm surprised that he paid enough attention to the reaping to take note that I have a twin and second I'm surprised that he asked me something so personal.

"O-okay so far" I mumble. The truth is I'm doing terrible and I miss her more than anything! But I don't want to talk about my sister right now; it hurts too much, hence my reply.

My prep team finishes making me over while talking about their daily lives. They don't ask my any more questions, so I just nod here and there to be polite but don't offer anything else. They all bid me farewell for the day and promise that they'll see me tomorrow. I'm not sure why, but I don't mind the prospect of seeing them again.

It takes my stylist 10 minutes to show up and while I wait I examine the work that my prep team did. Tara used mascara, eyeliner, and orange eye shadow; all of which are completely foreign to me. Even though I come from a merchant family we don't have any of these beauty supplies in the districts. She also applied coal dust in artistic swirls on face and hands which matches the color of my nails. Ophie turned my naturally straight hair into soft curls. I don't look like myself, I look like someone from the Capitol and it bothers me tremendously. Hopefully this means the sponsors will like it.

When my stylist walks in she introduces herself as Jolene. She's an elderly woman who must be in her sixties. She barks at me to stand up and I immediately follow her orders. As I stand there she squints her eyes and looks me over.

She sighs and says, "I guess you will do."

What is she going to do, exchange me? I know without further interaction that I am not going to like this woman. She's too rude and doesn't seem to care about other people's feelings. Though, what should I expect, she's from the Capitol.

She throws the contents of the rack at me and orders me to change. I grudgingly put everything on. My costume seems to consist of a black skin tight suit, an orange vest, black boots, an orange hard helmet, and plastic black pick axe.

I'm relieved that I'm not naked and I have to admit the outfit isn't half bad compared to some of the other miners' outfits' district twelve tributes have been forced to wear.

After Jolene deems my outfit is put on properly she turns on her heel and marches out the door. Just as I wonder what I'm supposed to do I hear her yell, "Come!" and I race after her.

We arrive at the District Twelve chariots and I notice that most of the other chariots are already gone. Good. I didn't really want to sit through watching all the other chariots ride out into the crowd of the City Circle. My anxiety about this whole ordeal is bad enough as it is. The only ones left are the ones from eleven and twelve, the last district ten chariot is just heading into the circle. I scan the other tributes from my district and see that we are all dressed similarly. This usually happens but I just wanted to make sure that I'm not the only one forced to wear this costume.

Since there is twice the amount of tributes the Capitol had to come up with twelve more chariots for the Opening Ceremonies. Our stylists quickly decided who will be in what chariot and I end up in the first one from district twelve with Haymitch.

He helps me up into the chariot and my heart quickens as he sits beside me. It's just nerves I tell myself, why would it be more than that? I've never really talked to Haymitch much before. Yeah it's the nerves, it's has to be.

Haymitch must have noticed my anxiety because he grabs onto my hand. It's strange, holding on to his hand calms me down a bit. It must be because he's from home so it reminds me of something familiar in this strange place.

The announcer reports that we're up next so the horses start pulling the chariot forward, and as we round the corner we are blinded from the lights and cameras. We have entered the City Circle.

**Haymitch**

I have to admit, at first I'm impressed by the beauty of the Capitol. Then, I realize that instead of keeping the people of the districts alive, they are wasting a ton of money on useless stuff to make their city 'pretty'. The districts provide everything for the capitol. Electronics, peacekeepers, seafood, food in general, coal, etc. We provide everything! You'd think that they would help by at least making sure that we all had food to eat so we could provide this stuff! But apparently not.

To anger me more, I guess, a bulky peacekeeper shoves me into a car. The car drives us tributes to the Remake Center where we are going to meet our stylists and they are going to 'pretty' us up for the opening ceremony.

I look out the window and see freaky people waving at me. They all look weird with their multiple colored skin, strange tattoos and funky hair. You never see any of that in district twelve. Oh and I can't forget about the horrid clothing they have on. What's wrong with normal clothes? All I can say is, I hope my stylist doesn't dress me like that.

The car comes to an abrupt stop. The door opens quickly and some peacekeepers yank us out. I am shoved into a room with a chair, a robe, and a ton of products on the table that scare me a little.

As I wait for my prep team, I examine some of the supplies. There are bottles, tubes, and tools that I have never seen or heard of. I have no idea what they are going to do to me, but I just have this feeling that I am not going to like it.

My prep team comes in. There are three of them. Two guys and one girl. One of the guys, with orange hair and pink swirls tattooed all over his body, introduces himself as Clovis. The other guy, Marcus, has black hair, and all of the colors of the rainbow dyed into his skin. The girl, Carletta, has her hair bleached white with red highlights and gold stripes all over her body.

They begin with the cleaning process. Every inch of my skin is cleaned and even some layers were taken off. The dirt is removed from underneath my nails and extra hairs are ripped off of my face.

My whole body is tingling with pain. The products they used to clean me stung and even burned. After hours of torture, they rub me down with this lotion that soothes my sore skin.

My prep team is talking the whole time. Going on and on about the games, gossip in the Capitol, and telling me how amazing I am going to look for the opening ceremony.

Finally, they see me fit enough to call my stylist. They tell me his name is Sampson.

When Sampson comes in the room my prep team leaves. I can already tell that this guy isn't going to talk a lot like my prep team. But, I can also tell that he and I aren't going to get along. At all.

He looks at me. Then, he glares at me.

"I am Sampson, your stylist." He says. "I see that we are going to have a lot of work to do. Do you live on the streets or something?"

"Well, I'm Haymitch, the kid you are readying up for slaughter." I say. His comment annoys me. While he's living the life in the Capitol, I've been working my butt off, trying to make it through each day.

"Quit with the attitude. You'll regret it if you don't." He threatens.

"Quit with the snide comments. We don't all get to live like you do in the Capitol." I snarl.

"Well that's not my problem, is it?" He retorts. "Put these on." He throws me a tightly fit black suit, black boots, orange vest and hard helmet, and a pick axe.

I put them on quickly and I look at myself in the mirror. At least I don't look like the Capitol people…yet. Actually, it's a better outfit than what District Twelve has had to wear in the past.

Sampson shoves me into a chair and calls Carletta back into the room.

"Put coal dust on his face and take him to the chariots. I'm going to have a drink." He says to her.

She starts with the black eyeliner and then brushes the coal dust around my eyes and on my cheek bone.

"You know," she says, "before you came we were all warned of your fiery personality. But, I find you quit delightful! I don't really have a problem with you like they said we would."

"Who told you that?" I ask. I guess I had that coming, but that does not mean that I'm going to give in and let the Capitol own me.

"The peacekeepers… and your mentor. They said you have an attitude problem. But I don't think you really do, you are very nice to me! Trust me; I've been on a prep team for total snobs before!" She glances at a clock. "Oh, it's time to go!"

We walk to the chariots. Most of the other chariots have gone on their way to the city center.

I am assigned to ride the first chariot with Maysilee Donner. There are two chariots for each district this year because there are twenty-four extra tributes. Normally, they only have one for each district.

I help Maysilee onto the chariot and hop on. I look at her and see that she is shaking. I grab her hand as reassurance. For both me and her. The chariot starts and we follow the other chariots to the City Center.


	5. Opening Ceremonies

**Here's chapter 5! (: It's kinda short so we are going to upload chapter 6 later today.  
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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the bombardment of lights. Everyone is screaming and after a few minutes I realize that what they are screaming is our names. The level of my anxiety doubles.

Haymitch squeezes my hand and I keep my composure in check.

Citizens of the Capitol reach their hands towards our chariot as we ride by. I'm curious as to why; they must be attracted to Haymitch. Whoa! Where did that thought come from? My hand holding his starts to heat up and I pray that it doesn't start to become sweaty.

I'm actually quite thankful for all the noise because I don't have to worry about there being an uncomfortable silence between us. Though now that I think about it, during most of the past games the tributes rarely interact with each other, so why do I care so much about my interactions with Haymitch?

I stop thinking about it and just stare of into the crowd. It takes ten minutes for us to make our way around the circle and once we get there Haymitch hops off and offers me his hand to help me down. I appreciate it because I can be a klutz sometimes and I know that all of Panem is watching right now which only makes it worse.

We make our way to where the other tributes are all waiting and five minutes later Jarod and Lucy arrive. That's when he appears at a balcony, the president. He has a certain sinister-ness about him but no one really seems to notice or care. He gives us a welcome speech during which the cameras cut away to each of our faces. When he finishes the anthem begins and we are ushered back to our chariots and make our way out of the circle and into the training center which will be our home until the games begin.

**Haymitch**

It's a short ride to the training center and I can see some of the other tributes from the other districts walking into inside when we arrive.

"How are you doing?" I ask.

She looks puzzled. Then answers, "Fine, I guess. Just overwhelmed with all of this and what's about to happen in the arena."

"Don't worry about it," I say. "You'll do fine."

Damon and Rosale come to get us when we get off of the chariot.

"You all looked great!" Rosale says.  
>"You looked alright." Damon says. Rosale smacks his arm. I would've punched him in the face, just saying. I've been tempted to do that from the very beginning. We get into the elevator and Rosale pushes the number twelve. We shoot upwards and stop when the elevator makes a 'ding'. Rosale leads the way out of the elevator and I make my way to my room.<p>

On my way there, I think about the chariot ride. The crowd screamed my name. I had always thought that the Capitol was bloodthirsty and just wanted me dead, but they were cheering for me. It was like I was a celebrity. There were girls screaming my name and blowing me kisses. I was surprised when I saw that. And I had held Maysilee's hand. That was one thing that I could never forget. It's kept me calm throughout the whole thing. It was too bad that it was so loud that we couldn't talk as much as I'd have liked.

I really want to talk to her more. What should I say to her though? Should I have ask her about her time here? Or talk to her about home? I don't have any idea as to what I should say. I just have to admit. She's an amazing girl. She's smart, sweet and attractive. I think that I if things were different and there wasn't the fact that only one of us could live, I'd ask her out. And she's from home. It's like having District Twelve here with me.


	6. The Capitol's Impression?

**Here's Chapter 6, our longest chapter to date!**

**We hope you enjoy it, and we would _love_ it if you guy would review/comment on what we've written so far! (:**

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

Our floor is adorned with a dining area, couches surrounding a tv, a deck on which we can look out onto the city, and all sorts of other furniture and accessories that compass the space. Off of the main room is a hallway that holds our rooms in which Rosale tells us we can find our belongings that we brought with us from the train.

Rosale shows each of us which room is ours and then allows us to do whatever we like until dinner that will take place in an hour or so.

I make my way to my room which is the third door on the right of the hall. I scan the room and notice that it is bigger than most of the houses in the seam. It contains a wardrobe filled with an assortment of clothes that I can choose from the wear, and a bed that is next to a window overlooking the city. There is even a little seating area and a machine with which I can order a variety of food from. I see another door in the room besides the entrance and open it to see what is inside. It's a bathroom the size of my room back home. There is a shower, tub, a huge vanity, and a device next to the shower that I have no idea what it does.

I decide to take a shower before dinner because it'd like to get out this costume and I feel kind of dirty from the makeup and from sweating a lot earlier during the chariot ride because I was so nervous.

The shower is so large that if I were to lie down on the tile and stretched my hands over my hand I'd still not be able to touch both sides. There are so many different buttons inside the shower for different types of shampoo, soap, body wash, and shower pressure options that it takes me five minutes to figure out which buttons I need to push for what I want.

After my shower I step out and the device that I previously had no idea what it did comes to life. It's radiating heat so I step onto it and in an instant my body and hair are dry. So I put on a robe and go into my room to pick out something to wear.

There is still twenty minutes to spare after I pick out a pair of jeans, a light blue top, and a pair of grey sandals to wear and I haven't had much time to myself lately so I decide to order something to snack on.

The machine has hundreds of options and finally I just decide an apple since I should try to eat healthy foods to help prepare myself for the Games.

As my thoughts turn to the Games I think of the different aspects of them including the fact that they're televised and that my family might have to watch me die. Televised. Cameras. Then I'm thinking about the fact that there are cameras everywhere in the capitol and I remember Damon's threat to Haymitch; about how he can't hide because the cameras would spot him in no time. Because they are watching our every move. That thought makes me feel uncomfortable and paranoid, and now being by myself doesn't appear very appealing anymore. So I throw away my apple and head to the main room.

When I arrive all the other tributes are there and I see that I'm not the only one who decided to wash off the makeup and change. Everyone is sporting new clothes and I can't help but notice Haymitch's muscles bulging a little underneath his somewhat tight fitting black tee when we appears with Rosale. She directs us to the dining room and we all follow suit behind her.

There are 6 table settings; four for us tributes and the other two are for Rosale and Damon. After the five of us take our seats, Haymitch is on my right and Lucy on my left, Damon saunters in from his room and sits beside Rosale. He doesn't seem to be in a good mood, but then again, when does he ever? We all pile food onto our plates and Rosale begins the conversation.

"You all really did look great out there today! You're costumes her fabulous!"

That's an overstatement. While our costumes were good compared to District 12 standard they didn't compare what so ever to the costumes of some of the other districts. The District 4 tributes for example wore flowy blue gowns to give you a feel of the ocean that is apart of their district.

"Was the Capitol impressed?" Lucy inquires. I'm surprised that she's spoken. She has been pretty quite this whole time; mainly listening to our conversations instead of partaking in them. But who am I to judge, I haven't been much of a talker earlier.

"They are always impressed, my dear." Rosale replies. "They love seeing what the stylists can do to make you guys reflect your districts. They are always excited for that."

I'm not really sure this is what Lucy was asking, but before I can make up my mind on weather to comment or not Jarod speaks up.

"Did they like us though?"

"Of course, they did!" Rosale says. "Who wouldn't?"

I still don't think Rosale is answering their question and Haymitch seems to think so too because he enters the conversation and says, "I think what they are trying to ask is, are we going to get sponsors?"

Rosale seems a little affronted by the straightforwardness of his question as she replies, "Well, um, I'm not sure. It's up to Damon to seal the deal with the sponsors. All I can do is just try to persuade them. But the people of the Capitol can be easily wavered. When they see your training scores, or even during your interview, they might change their mind. You've got to hold them. Make them want to sponsor you. You guys will be fine!"

So in other words, remain on the top of your game throughout your time here in the Capitol because one false move, even at the very end, could cause you to lose your sponsors. Every last one. Great, I fret, as if I wasn't nervous enough. If I don't obtained and keep any sponsors then my chances of making it out of the Games are slim to non existent.

Rosale breaks me away from my thoughts as she says, "So tomorrow is your first training day. You guys need to be up and really for breakfast at seven thirty. And please don't throw any of the alarm clocks at the door when I knock."

I can't help but notice her staring in Haymitch's direction as she sasy this. That thought actually brings a smile to my face as I think about the humor of that situation that I'm assuming has already occurred.

And sure enough Haymitch is replying to her request with, "Well could you give us a chance to wake up before you pound the door off and give us a headache?"

"Haymitch, shut up." Damon responds. "Just get up when she knocks. Tomorrow, we will talk strategy. Be here. At seven thirty. No delays and no excuses. I will personally kick your butt if you are not here then."

That seems to put an end to the conversation and everyone eats in silence. I'm a slow eater and before I know it the only ones left in the room are Haymitch and myself.

Haymitch seems more social now that it's just the two of us and he asks, "How do you think we did today at the ceremony?"

I'm curious why he's asking me this when this same conversation occurred a half hour ago but I respond anyways. "Well our costumes were decent compared to past years and the crowd seemed to like us. So I wouldn't count us out of the running just yet!" Then I respond with my own question, "Why are you asking me about this when Rosale already told us how she thinks we did?"

He seems to think it over a minute and replies, "Because…I value your opinion over some lady's from the Capitol."

I laugh, quite flattered. "Isn't that the point though? That the people from the _Capitol_ think we did great?"

"I know, but you know what I mean." He says as we get up from the table and make our ways towards our rooms where everyone else has likely disappeared too.

The weird thing is is that I think I _do _know what he means. I'd trust his judgment over Rosale's or any other persons' here, though I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's because I've felt a bond towards him since he comforted me on the chariot ride earlier today. So I just reply with a simple, "Yea, I know."

We walk in silence, both caught up in our thoughts, as we reach the hallway containing our rooms when Haymitch bursts out, "I miss them. My mother and brother."

I reach out for his hand and give it squeeze. My heart aches for my loved ones back home as I reply, "I miss mine too."

We are at my door so I turned towards Haymitch and whisper, "Goodnight Haymitch" as I quickly give him a huge.

"Goodnight Maysilee", He whispers back.

We break apart, look at each other one last time, and then he heads down the hall as I open and then quietly shut the door behind me.

As I quickly change into something comfortable to sleep in, I think about my hug with Haymitch. I'm not sure what prompted me to do it, maybe it was my overflowing emotions from missing my friends and family and the fact he's a living reminder of home… I'm not sure, but as I crawl into bed I know this is going to be a restless night.

**Haymitch**

As I enter my room, I am completely taken by surprise by how nice it is. There is a closet full of clothes, which you have to use the programmer to pick them out. A king size bed is sitting in the middle of the room, with little chocolates on the pillows. The bathroom alone is ten times bigger than the bathroom at my home in District Twelve. The shower looks so complicated with the hundreds of buttons. Not to mention the thousands of other things in the bathroom that have panels, buttons, and knobs. I can even order food through the microphone in the corner of the room by reading what I want off of the menu. It's all you can eat and it comes in less than a minute.

I eat some snacks that I ordered and then hop in the shower. After I learn how to turn the water on, which involved cursing at the shower and pressing all of the buttons on until I got a nice hot spray of water falling out of the faucet, I go out and this loud sounds comes and a heat wave dries off. I combed my hair and found some nice jeans and a nice black t-shirt. For some reason, I feel like looking nice for dinner. I never comb my hair. Usually I just ruffle it up and go with it. It's curly but it lies flat, so I really .don't have to comb it. And I really don't care what it looks like in District Twelve, but here I do. I don't know why, but for some reason I feel like I have to impress Maysilee. She's always so… together. Her long blonde hair and striking blue eyes are really attractive. I've seen her at school and she's always been really nice. She doesn't go around all antisocial and angry like I do. I like how she is. I want to impress her. I want her to like me.

Rosale comes to retrieve me for dinner and we head down the hall to the dining room. In the middle of the room, there is a table with a ton of food on it. I just realized how hungry I was. All of this food looks so good and if I'm going to die in the arena, I might as well stuff myself while I have the chance.

I sit next to Maysilee. That's good. Maybe I can walk her to her room after dinner. I want to talk to her.

Damon comes in after we all sit down. He looks angry. I wonder what put him in a bad mood. Maybe it's because he has to mentor me. I know he doesn't like me. He hates me. I would put a bet on it that he won't send me a single thing while I'm in the arena.

We load our plates with food and start digging in. It's really delicious. And it's really rich. I can tell that I'm going to have a hard time keeping it down tonight.

"You all really did look great out there today! You're costumes her fabulous!" Rosale says.

I'm wondering if we made an impression. Are we going to get any sponsors? I know we can only really rely on the Capitol for sponsors. District Twelve doesn't have the money. And all of the other districts are going to sponsor their own tributes, no questions asked. That's just how it goes. The Capitol people are the only ones that sponsor for whoever they think are the prettiest or coolest. Sometimes they judge on whom they think will win, but we dress up and try to impress them with our looks at the opening ceremony for a reason. They want the good lookers.

"Was the Capitol impressed?" Lucy asks. That's the first time I've ever heard her talk. She usually sits quietly and stays out of the conversations.

"They are always impressed, my dear." Rosale answers. "They love seeing what the stylists can do to make you guys reflect your districts. They are always excited for that."

"Did they like us though?" Jarod asks. Same thing with him. He doesn't talk very much either.

"Of course, they did!" Rosale says. "Who wouldn't?"

"I think what they are trying to ask is, are we going to get sponsors?" I butt in. Jarod and Lucy look at me. I know I'm right. I wanted to know the same thing.

"Well, um, I'm not sure. It's up to Damon to seal the deal with the sponsors. All I can do is just try to persuade them. But the people of the Capitol can be easily wavered. When they see your training scores, or even during your interview, they might change their mind. You've got to hold them. Make them want to sponsor you. You guys will be fine!" Rosale explains.

Well that's reassuring. The people of the Capitol are like dogs. Very easily distracted.

"So tomorrow is your first training day. You guys need to be up and really for breakfast at seven thirty. And please don't throw any of the alarm clocks at the door when I knock." Rosale looks pointedly at me. Well, what can I say? I wanted to go back to sleep.

"Well could you give us a chance to wake up before you pound the door off and give us a headache?" I ask. She is now glaring at me.

"Haymitch, shut up." Damon says. "Just get up when she knocks. Tomorrow, we will talk strategy. Be here. At seven thirty. No delays and no excuses. I will personally kick your butt if you are not here then." And there is another pointed glare in my direction.

As we finish dinner, Rosale actually has nothing to say. That's a first. Everyone else has left the dining room and it's just me and Maysilee left.

"How do you think we did today at the ceremony?" I ask.

She looks confused. Then she says "Well our costumes were decent compared to past years and the crowd seemed to like us. So I wouldn't count us out of the running just yet! Why are you asking me about this when Rosale already told us how she thinks we did?" I guess she got to the base of her confusion.

I have to think about this for a few seconds. Why did I want to know what she thinks? "Because… I value your opinion over some lady's from the Capitol."

She laughs. I think I said the right thing. Not that I was trying to, it's just I guess she likes that I think more of her opinion than anybody else here. I hardly ever talk to Jarod or Lucy. "Isn't that the point though? That the people from the Capitol think we did great?" She says.

"I know, but you know what I mean." I say. We get up from the table and head to our rooms. "Yea, I know." She says quietly.

We don't talk much as we walk down the hall. I actually spend the whole time thinking about how much I miss my mother and Eric. And I'm also wondering if Maysilee and I would have ever even talked if we weren't forced into this.  
>"I miss them. My mother and brother." And as I say this I feel sad. Will I ever see them again? How will they get through the next few weeks? I don't want them to watch me die. She slowly grabs my hand and squeezes it.<p>

"I miss my family too." She says.

When we reach her door she looks at me and whispers, "Goodnight Haymitch" and gives me a hug.

"Goodnight Maysilee" I whisper back.

I walk down the hall and look back at her room. I want to go back there and talk to her more. But I don't. I go to my room and change into some pajamas and hop into bed. I toss and turn for a few minutes. Then I sit up. I just can't get comfortable enough to sleep. And I'm just too wired about what just happened. I leave my room and walk around the hallway until I find a huge window at the end. From it, I can see President Snow's mansion. I can see the train station, where we came in at and I can see a party going on down on the streets. There are so many people dressed up funny, dancing around and drinking.

Watching the party going on annoys me, so I head back to my room and climb into bed.


	7. Training: Day 1

**Maysilee**

_*Beep! Beep! Beep!*_

I'm awoken by the alarm clock at 6 am I get up and sigh. I was right, it was a restless night. I woke up a dozen different times and each time it took me what felt like forever to get to sleep because I couldn't stop thinking. Thinking about home, training in the morning, the Games, and about Haymitch.

He's been cropping up in my thoughts lately. It's obviously because I've been hanging around him a lot these past couple of days, I tell myself. But I can't help but wonder…is it more than that? Whenever he walks into the room I immediately become self-conscious, it's like I want to impress him or something. It seems like I have a crush on him… I can't though! We're going into the games together; he'll be out for my blood so that he can return home to his family. But as this thought runs through my head I know it's not true. Haymitch doesn't want be to die, he just wants to return home. Just like I do, and I certainly don't want him dead. I don't want any of us to die. That's the Games though and I'm going to have to get over it, like it or not, if I want to make it back home.

I sigh again; I'm going to have to figure out exactly how I feel about Haymitch. I can't keep ignoring the fact that he keeps popping into my head. The fact that I might actually have a crush on him scares me and I try not to think about it as I change into the clothes left for me for training.

After I get dressed into some black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a pair of running shoes I head to the dining room for breakfast.

Lucy and Rosale are already at the table and they are talking about the style in the Capitol as I sit beside Lucy.

"Good morning Maysilee" Rosale says. "I was just telling Lucy all about the newest style trends. If one of you girls were to win you could have diamonds inserted down your arms! You'd be the envy of all of Panem!" she adds enthusiastically.

"Wow that sounds an interesting style." I reply. Great; so if I win the game I might have to become the doll to the designers that come up with these freakish clothes and styles here in the Capitol. Doesn't that sound like the perfect award! Rosale seems to think so.

Jarod walks into the room as Rosale starts explaining another trend and she because excited as she bids him a good morning because now she can describe some of the trends for guys too. I can tell by the look on his face that this is the last thing he wants to be talking about and he seems to be saved because after a couple of minutes Haymitch walks in.

My heart quickens when I see him. Perfect, I groan inwardly. That just reassures what I'm dreading. And to make matters worse; he chooses to sit beside me.

I'm saved from having to say anything to Haymitch because Damon chooses that moment to arrive.

He seems a little drunk as he sits down and says, ""Wow Haymitch, got here before me today. Guess you didn't want me to kick your butt then, now did you?"

Uh oh, this is very likely about to start an argument. But to my surprise Haymitch doesn't say anything.

"So today, all I want you to do is train. I don't really care what you do. Figure out what you are good at so you can use that for your private training session for the game makers. Now do I really have to explain what your private training session with the game makers is?" Damon pauses to order some wine. It's only eight in the morning. My heart sinks; the odds of making it out of the Games just keep going down as the days progress.

"Well, take your time. You don't have to be down at the training center until nine. Atala will explain the training center to you when you get there. You will train for a few hours and then eat lunch down there with the other tributes and train some more until they release you. Then you will come back here for dinner and we will give you some advice on what to do and what not to do whilst you are there. Now are there any questions?" Rosale says.

Damon's quick to shoot Haymitch a looks as he says, "She means, are there any questions that are worth our time and effort to answer? Meaning no stupid questions."

Really? It seems like he's trying to start a fight with Haymitch. He's supposed to help us prepare for the Games, not tear us down every chance he gets. I'm starting to really dislike my mentor.

Haymitch seems not to care about fighting with Damon because he replies, "Well I was going to ask what type of training equipment they had down there, but now I'm going to ask what your definition of a stupid question is?" Haymitch is obviously not going to let Damon bully him. Good, I think. One of us has to stand up to him, and I doubt it will be me. I don't like fighting with people, even if I don't like them.

"Well, asking what my definition of a stupid question is, qualifies as a stupid question." Damon spits back.

Rosale laughs. "Now let's all be nice to each other!" She says. "We have the games to prepare for, you know!"

I'm glad she's intervened but I think Haymitch was asking a valid question quick I think should be answered. Plus I'm kinda mad that Damon's being so rude.

"So, what kinds of equipment will they have for us in the training center?" I ask.

"They will have weights, weapons, knots tying, camouflage, climbing, edible plants, and some others like that. They cover the basics for survival in the arena. It doesn't make for a good show when all of the tributes die because they don't know how to build a fire and make a shelter." Rosale answers. "Well it's eight thirty now. You should head down to the training center soon. We don't want to be late!"

With that we get on the elevator and making our way to the first day of training.

When we exit the elevator I notice that we are the last ones to arrive. A lady that I assume is Atala blows a whistle and commands us all to assemble into a line in the middle of the training area to hear her instructions.

"I am Atala, the director of the training center. There will be experts for each station and you may move around as you please. However, you are forbidden to start any fights or attack each other while you are here in the training center. There are assistants here if you wish to practice with a partner. I am now going to read a list of the stations that are available to you." She then goes on to read a very long list of all the different stations. I'm surprised by the large number of them; some of which include archery, edible foods, fire starting, shelter making, and rock climbing.

She blows her whistle again to single that we are now able to head to the stations. Being able to make a fire seems important so I make my way over to that station where two other tributes are already starting. The instructor shows me where the supplies are and quickly demonstrates how I am to start a fire.

After a half hour I finally get a fire starting with some flint. I decide to move on to another station but I plan on returning to this one before training is done in the next few days so that I can learn to make a fire without flint.

I glance around and decide that my next move should be to practice with some weapons. They are all foreign to me so I pick up a random weapon to try out.

Soon I find that I'm dreadful at using a sword and I can't throw a knife to save my life. Which ironically, is what I might need that skill for. I do find that I am decent will the blow gun though. Before I can practice more with it we are called to lunch.

I fill my plate up with foods I never eaten before and then go to a table that non of the other tributes are sitting at. The Careers, the tributes from district one, two, and four, seat together but I'd rather not risk making friends with these people. It just makes it that much worse that I might have to kill them and that they might kill me.

Soon after I begin to eat Haymitch walks up and asks, "Is it alright if I sit here?"

I nod and he takes a seat. I couldn't just tell him no, I would feel bad. Plus what was I supposed to say? Sorry, but I think I might have a crush on you so I'd rather we didn't hang out. No, that wouldn't be a very good idea.

"So how's your training been?"

"Fine so far. I'm just trying to get some of the basics taken care of first. What about you?' I reply.

"Ok, I guess. It's hard to take my mind off of what I've been thrown into, what we all have been thrown into, when I'm training for the Games. But then again, I do feel more relaxed here than when I'm with the Capitol people."

I know what he means. Even though training forces us to think of the Games, we are still able to escape reality a little bit. "Yeah I know what you mean." I pause then add, "So what do you think of the other tributes?" I know I shouldn't add on to the conversation when it might just confuse me more about my feelings toward Haymitch but I just can't help it. I feel like I can talk to him about anything.

"Well they don't seem any different from the other tributes from other years. There are just more of them. We are really going to have to watch out for the Career pack. There are more of them to join the hunt."

The way he says 'we' makes me wonder if he means me and him together, like in an alliance. I think about asking him but I'm too scared to and we finish our lunch in silence.

I spend the rest of the day between the edible foods station and the shelter making one. When we are told to stop for the day I put down the shelter I was weaving out of long plant steams and head to the elevators. When I get there it is already full. To make things worse, one of the Career smirks at us and says to another tribute, "Press all of the buttons, will you?"

As they head up the elevator stops at every floor, even if the tributes for that floor are down here waiting for the elevator to come back down. Jerk, I think. I really hope he doesn't become victor.

Finally the elevator reaches the ground floor again and the rest of us pile inside. I see Haymitch and go to stand by him.

"That guy was a jerk!" I protest. I feel comfortable enough around Haymitch now that I feel I can speak my mind.

"Yeah," he agrees, "he better watch out in the arena. He just made a whole lot of enemies."

"Yep. Especially two powerful ones from district twelve!" I joke.

"Who? Lucy and Jarod?" he asks.

We both start laughing. The feeling is great and we are both still laughing when we reach our floor. As we step off the elevator we head towards our rooms.

When I make it to my door I smile at Haymitch and say, "See you in a bit!"

"Okay, see ya!" he smiles back brightly.

**Haymitch**

I didn't get that much sleep last night. I remember seeing 12:12 and 1:11 and 2:22 and 3:33. I think I finally fell asleep around four. I just kept thinking about the conversation that Maysilee and I had. I really enjoy talking to her. The one person that I can actually talk to without thinking of excuses to leave, and one of us, if not both of us, is going to die soon. And the hug. She hugged me. I tell myself she did it out of comfort. That she was trying to console me and her at the same time. Or maybe she was just a hugger and wanted to hug me goodnight. But part of me just thinks that maybe she likes me. And that she likes talking to me, just like I like talking to her. I don't know.

Rosale knocks on my door to wake me up. I'm tempted to ignore her. And see if Damon really does come to kick my butt. I bet he would. But I think it's against the rules. To have a mentor beat up on a tribute. I could get him in trouble. But that wouldn't do me or Maysilee any good in the arena. I mean, it wouldn't do any of the District Twelve tributes any good in the arena.

I take a quick shower and see the clothes that have been left out for me on the counter. A pair of black sweats, a black t-shirt, and some running shoes is what I am supposed to wear at the training session today.

I get dressed and head out to the dining room for breakfast. As usual I am the last one there. Well except for Damon. He probably went to my room to go kick my butt. Or he is still drunk in bed. I take my usual spot next to Maysilee.

I load my plate up with food and start to dig in. The food is amazing. An omelet, bacon, sausage, toast, hash browns, orange juice, coffee, and a lot of things I don't even know the names of.

Damon staggers in. He sees me and is surprised.

"Wow Haymitch, got here before me today. Guess you didn't want me to kick your butt then, now did you?" He says. He sits down and starts eating some bacon.

"So today, all I want you to do is train. I don't really care what you do. Figure out what you are good at so you can use that for your private training session for the game makers. Now do I really have to explain what your private training session with the game makers is?" He tells us. Then he calls the waiter over to order some alcohol. He's already getting drunk and it's only eight in the morning. What is up with that?

"Well, take your time. You don't have to be down at the training center until nine. Atala will explain the training center to you when you get there. You will train for a few hours and then eat lunch down there with the other tributes and train some more until they release you. Then you will come back here for dinner and we will give you some advice on what to do and what not to do whilst you are there. Now are there any questions?" She asks.

I open my mouth, but Damon interrupts me. "She means, are there any questions that are worth our time and effort to answer? Meaning no stupid questions." He says looking at me.

"Well I was going to ask what type of training equipment they had down there, but now I'm going to ask what your definition of a stupid question is?" I say. Oh how I love getting under his skin. I don't know why, I have never liked Damon. In fact, I have always hated him. He's always drunk, running around town, and wasting all of his money. I've grown up in the Seam so I don't waste anything. In my family, we eat all of the food, and only buy stuff that is imperative for us to live. I have never bought something that I wanted for myself. Just stuff I need. And this quality time spent with him just makes me hate him more.

"Well, asking what my definition of a stupid question is, qualifies as a stupid question." He retorts.

Rosale laughs. "Now let's all be nice to each other!" She says. "We have the games to prepare for, you know!" Well, Damon and I are still glaring at each other.

"So, what kind of equipment will they have for us in the training center?" Maysilee asks for me.

"They will have weights, weapons, knots tying, camouflage, climbing, edible plants, and some others like that. They cover the basics for survival in the arena. It doesn't make for a good show when all of the tributes die because they don't know how to build a fire and make a shelter." Rosale answers. "Well it's eight thirty now. You should head down to the training center soon. We don't want to be late!"

We are in the elevator, on our way down to the training center. The elevator is a little crowded with Rosale, Damon, Lucy, Jarod, and Maysilee all stuffed in there with me. I guess they never considered the fact that there was going to be a Hunger Games with double the tributes when they made the elevators.

I hear a _ding_ and the door opens. We file out one-by-one and make our way down the hall to the gymnasium where the training takes place. Rosale opens the door and ushers the four of us tributes in and shuts the door behind us. Apparently Rosale and Damon are going to be watching elsewhere.

A whistle blows and a lady us that we need to assemble in a line in the middle of the training space to hear the directions.

"I am Atala, the director of the training center. There will be experts for each station and you may move around as you please. However, you are forbidden to start any fights or attack each other while you are here in the training center. There are assistants here if you wish to practice with a partner. I am now going to read a list of the stations that are available to you. The stations are; weaponry, archery, sword fighting, rock climbing, edible plants, knot tying, shelter making, fire starting, camouflage, spear throwing, sling shots…" She says. The list goes on and on. While Atala is talking, I am looking around and trying to decide which stations I want to go to.

To be honest, all of them look interesting. We never get to do anything like this in District Twelve and we were certainly never allowed to have any weapons. And they all look useful, I could think of reasons which I would need all of them for. I could make snares to hunt or catch people, use the weapons, and I'm sure I'll need shelter at some point. I'll probably need to cook some food or keep warm with a fire and I'll need to make sure that I don't eat any poisonous plants. They all look important for my survival in the arena. But training for my death doesn't make me feel better.

Atala finishes with the list and releases us. I head over to where everyone else is not, the edible plants station. All of the Career groups, tributes in Districts One, Two, and Four, head over to the weapons. All of the others split up.

I sit there for about an hour learning what plant I can eat and what ones will kill me. Once I get them all down, I head to the next empty station, knot tying. Then, after that, camouflage. I keep doing that for a couple more hours until they call us to lunch. I find Maysilee sitting by herself at a table and walk over to her.

"Is it all right if I sit here?" I ask.

She nods and I sit.

"So how's your training been?" I've wanted to talk to her again all day.

"Fine so far. I'm just trying to get some of the basics taken care of first. What about you?' She answers.

"Ok, I guess. It's hard to take my mind off of what I've been thrown into, what we all have been thrown into, when I'm training for the Games. But then again, I do feel more relaxed here than when I'm with the Capitol people." I confide in her.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. So, what do you think of the other tributes?" She asks

"Well they don't seem any different from the other tributes from other years. There are just more of them. We are really going to have to watch out for the Career pack. There are more of them to join the hunt." I tell her. She ponders this for a minute. I wonder if she is going to say something else. But she doesn't. It's nice to have someone to talk to though. Someone that I know and that's from home. We eat in silence.

When we are done eating our lunch, we dump our trays and head back to the training center. I head off to the sling shot and master it within ten minutes. I hit all of the dummies right in the eyes. The practice dummies, not the Capitol dummies.

I keep moving through the stations for the rest of the day. Finally, we are told that the training day is over and that we are to go up to our rooms.

I get to the elevator but it is full. All of the Careers are fitted into the elevator. One of them looks at me standing there and sees Maysilee and some others walking towards the elevator and has an evil grin on his face.

"Press all of the buttons, will you?" He says to the guy next to the panel with the buttons. He lets out a loud guffaw and the door closes. I see the elevator go to one, then two, three, four, five, six, seven, and it keeps stopping at every floor all the way up to twelve. He's really irritating me.

"That guy was a jerk!" Maysilee says indignantly. I can tell this guy really got on her nerves.

"Yeah," I agrees, "he better watch out in the arena. He just made a whole lot of enemies."

"Yep. Especially two powerful ones from district twelve!" She humors.

"Who? Lucy and Jarod?" I ask in mock confusion. Wow she is so easy to talk to.

We are laughing the whole way up to our floor. When the door opens we get out and walk over to her room.

"See you in a bit!" She smiles and says.

"Okay, see ya!" I smile back and head to my room.

Once I finally reach my room, I jump in the shower and turn up the heat. It's actually pretty relaxing after a long day of training. I could stay in here all night. But instead of thinking about how training was today, or how I was going to get back at that guy, or what was going to happen tomorrow, I am thinking about Maysilee. How she smiles at me and makes me laugh. How am I ever going to kill her? I know the answer to that. I couldn't. In fact, not only would I not kill her, but I don't think I could let anyone do that to her. Things just get more and more difficult every day.


	8. Rolemodels?

**Sorry for the delay everyone! Here's chapter 8, we hope you like it! (:**

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

I still can't seem to be able to stop smiling from my conversation with Haymitch earlier. I can't deny it now; I do feel something for him. I might as well admit it, as least to myself, before I possibly die in the Games. It's funny, instead of increasing my anxiety; having finally accepted to myself how I feel makes me more at peace with myself. I don't have to be at war with myself anymore on weather or not I will take him down if it ensures my ticket home. The answer; I won't. There's no way I can look at Haymitch and stab him in the back. I just hope he won't do that to me. Part of me doesn't think he will, I think he likes me too; if anything at least as friends. But another part of me wonders…

I've been lying on my bed for awhile after I took my shower and changed because I figured I still had awhile before dinner started. And just when I am thinking about heading to the dining room there's a knock at my door.

"Maysilee, it's time for dinner!" comes Rosale's voice.

"Coming!" I call back.

I follow Rosale and we go collect Lucy, Jarod, and Damon. Next we move on to Haymitch's room, but when Rosale knocks on his door and calls his name no one responds.

"I'll go look for him." Grumbles Damon. And with that he goes off in search for Haymitch. I wonder where he could have run off too…

"Okay, well let's head to the dining room then." Rosale says.

When we enter the dining room we are all surprised to see Haymitch sitting at the table.

"Hi guys. Where's Damon?" he asks.

"We went to all of your rooms to collect you and you weren't there, so he went looking for you." Rosale tells him. "Well, it's a nice surprise to see you here before everyone else, Haymitch!" she adds.

"Yeah, well I got bored." Haymitch replies.

"So, how was your guys' training today?" asks Rosale.

"It was okay. I just went around to some stations and learned some things." Lucy says.

"Same here. That's all I did." Jarod utters.

It seems like we all had the same strategy and I kinda feel like a copy cat when I say, "I went to a few stations and tried to master the concept as best I could and then moved on to the next station."

"Mine was ok. I went to pretty much every station. I didn't really irritate anyone. Except the Careers really seem to hate me for some reason. But I swear I didn't do anything!" Haymitch responds.

"Problems with the Careers?" Damon walks in. "What kind of problems?"

"They all headed for the elevator and there wasn't enough room and one of them looked at me and Maysilee and told the others to press all of the buttons so we had to wait longer." Haymitch explains.

"They always do something like that. They like to provoke the other tributes to try to cause a fight." Damon says as he sits down. "They did stuff like that in my year, too."

Well it's a good thing they didn't hear the little exchange Haymitch and I had about them then.

Damon continues on to tell us, "Well, you still have two more training days with them. Then you are in the arena together. I would suggest not angering the Careers unless you are ready to kill them. Don't retaliate to anything they do and just ignore them. As soon as you fight back they are going to put you on their hit list and you'll be the first one they go after."

Haymitch seems to ponder what Damon just said as the rest of us talk about what we might do during training tomorrow.

"I think I'm just going to go to random stations again." Lucy imputes.

"Same here. Though I might check out some of the weapons." Replies Jarod.

"Weapons are important, but make sure you learn some of the other survival basics like learning to start a fire." Damon says.

"I'm going to continue trying to master as many stations as I can." I contribute.

Damon doesn't offer me any feedback. Does that mean he approves? I hope so, because he doesn't seem to be helping me prepare for the Games very much.

As our meal start to come to an end Rosale announces, "You guys can get up whenever you want tomorrow. Just as long as you are at the training center at nine. Unless Damon wants you up early for something?"

"Nope. But I would suggest you eat breakfast before you go down to the training center instead of sleeping in until eight fifty-five. It's easier to train when you aren't hungry."

He heads over to the door and stops. "Oh, Lucy and Jared, you might want to consider what Haymitch and Maysilee are doing. It's easier to get through the days if you partner up." He walks out the door.

Whoa, so maybe Damon has been paying closer attention to what I do than I expected. So maybe he really didn't offer me feedback because he does approve of what I'm doing! That makes me feel somewhat relieved.

"What exactly is it that you guys are doing?" Jared asks somewhat grumpily.

"Well, we ate lunch together." Haymitch replies.

I try to think back to what we've done together that would lead the Damon saying that but I can't really think of anything. We didn't talk at training except during lunch and we haven't talked strategy or anything. Maybe he's referring to the fact that we talk as if we are friends; which I consider us to be. But does Damon suspect that there's more to it than that, at least on my side?

"And why would Damon tell us to do what you were doing if you _just_ ate lunch together, then?" Jarod demands of us.

This is going to rub Haymitch the wrong way… and sure enough it does as he replies angrily, "Because Maysilee and I are bonding. We are friends. And you are just some jerk who is feeling sorry for himself alone in the corner"

"Ok then, if that's all it is. I don't believe you, though. You guys are just not telling us so that you can win." Jarod accuses.

"Well, no duh!" Haymitch shouts. "This is a competition. Nobody wants to die and everyone wants to win so that they can go back to their families. Is it so wrong that Maysilee and I have become friends? We are helping each other through the days until we are thrown into the arena."

"If Damon is telling me and Lucy that we should be more like you and do what you are doing, then I want to know what it is! We have a right to know!" He shouts at Haymitch. "You are a liar and have an unfair advantage for the Games!"

Haymitch stands and leaves the room angrily. I run after to try to calm him down. I soon catch up with him and I lay my hand on his arm to stop him, "Haymitch, calm down, he's just a jealous, lonely jerk. Don't let him get to you, you're better than him."

"It's just, I was telling him the truth. We… you and I, we aren't letting ourselves… What I mean to say is, you and I are friends." He tells me. "And we are helping each other through the process. And you're right. He is a jerk. And I don't get why he blew up on me. Calling me a liar and saying that I had an unfair advantage? Where did he get that from? And what does he think we are doing? I just don't get it."

"He blew up in your face because he's jealous. You got Damon's attention and he didn't. I think he believes we are in an alliance…" I pause. We haven't talked about alliances before. Does he want me to be in an alliance with him? I've thought about asking him but I have been to shy ask him. We are friends, so I'd be pretty hurt if we turned my offer down.

"That's just another thing I don't understand. Why does Damon notice me when he hates my guts?" he confusedly asks.

"I'm not sure…maybe your attitude towards him reminds him of himself when he was our age?"

"Maybe." He then adds, "It must be hard for him. To mentor all of the kids from Twelve that are tributes, only to watch them die. Maybe that's why he's so hostile and a drunk."

"I'm sure it is. If I had to mentor tributes each year just to watch them die I would probably not being a very happy person to be around. But that still doesn't give him a right to be rude to us."

I start thinking about what life will be like if I win. I'd move to the victors' village and each year I would mentor tributes alongside Damon. That doesn't sound like a fate I want. It's bad enough knowing the kids that are reaped, but having to mentor them too, knowing that they will most likely die? That's got to be hard, and I start to sympathize with Damon a little. But like I said, while he might be unhappy we don't deserve to be treated like this. You never know, one of us just might win…

We've both been caught up in our thoughts as we start to make our way towards our rooms and before I know it we have reached my door.

Haymitch seems slightly distracted as he says, "Goonight Maysilee."

"Goodnight Haymitch." I respond. I look into those troubled grey eyes for a moment before I turn around and open by door.

As I start to close the door behind me I hear Haymitch call, "Oh, Maysilee?"

"Yes?" I reply.

"Thank you." He tells me.

"For what?" I ask.

"For being there." He responds. And with that he takes of down the hall to his room as I close the door shut behind me.

**Haymitch**

After I get out of the shower, I get dressed and head to the dining room. I'm actually the first person there this time. I sit down and wonder if I'm in the right place. This is the dining room, right? They didn't move dinner to a different place, did they? I'm really doubting myself when the door swings open and everyone walks in. Well, everyone except Damon.

"Where's Damon?" I ask.

"We went to all of your rooms to collect you and you weren't there, so he went looking for you." Rosale replies. "Well, it's a nice surprise to see you here before everyone else, Haymitch!"

"Yeah, well I got bored." I say.

"So, how was your guys' training today?" Rosale asks.

"It was okay. I just went around to some stations and learned some things." Lucy answers.

"Same here. That's all I did." Says Jared.

"I went to a few stations and tried to master the concept as best I could and then moved on to the next station." Maysilee tells us.

"Mine was ok. I went to pretty much every station. I didn't really irritate anyone. Except the Careers really seem to hate me for some reason. But I swear I didn't do anything!" I say. I'm hoping to find out what exactly their problem is. Or do they always act like that?

"Problems with the Careers?" Damon walks in. "What kind of problems?"

"They all headed for the elevator and there wasn't enough room and one of them looked at me and Maysilee and told the others to press all of the buttons so we had to wait longer." I explained. Maybe I'm blowing this way out of proportion.

"They always do something like that. They like to provoke the other tributes to try to cause a fight." Damon says. "They did stuff like that in my year, too."

Damon and I are actually having a civil conversation. That's a first.

"Well you still have two more training days with the Careers. Then you are in the arena with them. I would suggest not angering them unless you are ready to kill them. Don't retaliate to anything they do and just ignore it. As soon as you fight back they are going to put you on their hit list and you'll be the first one they go after." Damon adds.

Damon is only confirming what I was thinking about why the Careers hated me. They don't. At least, not yet. They are just trying to pick out targets to go after in the beginning. And if I fight back, they are going to pounce on me when we are in the arena. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't do anything yet.

I eat my food while there is another conversation going on between the others. It's good food, too. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon bits, cranberry sauce, and corn.

"You guys can get up whenever you want tomorrow. Just as long as you are at the training center at nine." Rosale says. "Unless Damon wants you up early for something?"

"Nope. But I would suggest you eat breakfast before you go down to the training center instead of sleeping in until eight fifty-five. It's easier to train when you aren't hungry."

He starts heading over to the door and stops to turn and look at us. "Oh, Lucy and Jarod, you might want to consider what Haymitch and Maysilee are doing. It's easier to get through the days if you partner up." He walks out the door.

"What exactly is it that you guys are doing?" Jarod asks. I may be mistaken but he seems a little angry that Damon approves of what Maysilee and I are doing and not what he is doing.

"Well, we ate lunch together." I say. I wonder if Damon has been watching us all along. I wonder if he can tell that I care about her. Or if he just thinks that we are close friends. I wonder if he actually feels sorry for us?

"And why would Damon tell us to do what you were doing if you _just_ ate lunch together, then?" Jarod demands. Yeah, I was right. He is angry that Damon told him to be like me.

"Because Maysilee and I are bonding. We are friends. And you are just some jerk who is feeling sorry for himself alone in the corner." I snap back hotly. I think about what Damon could've seen. We ate lunch together today. We held hands on the chariot. But I don't think he would've seen that. I walked her to her room. But he had already gone to his…

"Ok then, if that's all it is. I don't believe you, though. You guys are just not telling us so that you can win." He accuses.

"Well, no duh!" I shout. "This is a competition. Nobody wants to die and everyone wants to win so that they can go back to their families. Is it so wrong that Maysilee and I become friends? We are helping each other through the days until we are thrown into the arena."

"If Damon is telling me and Lucy that we should be more like you and do what you are doing, then I want to know what it is! We have a right to know!" He yells at me. "You are a liar and have an unfair advantage for the Games!"

I am so tempted to kick his butt, but that is against the rules. I could get myself killed for that. Or make my family suffer. So I do something I would never do in District Twelve, I turn and leave the dining room and Maysilee is right behind me.

I keep walking until I am halfway down the hallway, then Maysilee touches my arm.

"Haymitch, calm down, he's just a jealous, lonely jerk. Don't let him get to you, you're better than him.

"It's just, I was telling him the truth. We… you and I, we aren't letting ourselves… What I mean to say is, you and I are friends." I stumble around for the right words. Well, I wish it could be more than that. "And we are helping each other through the process. And you're right. He is a jerk. And I don't get why he blew up on me. Calling me a liar and saying that I had an unfair advantage? Where did he get that from? And what does he think we are doing? I just don't get it."

"He blew up in your face because he's jealous. You got Damon's attention and he didn't. I think he believes we are in an alliance…"She tells me.

"That's just another thing I don't understand. Why does Damon notice me when he hates my guts?" I ask. This really confuses me. We are practically jumping down each other's throats on a daily basis.

"I'm not sure…maybe your attitude towards him reminds him of himself when he was our age?" Maysilee answers. I think about this. Maybe she's right. Maybe I am like him. Or maybe he thinks I've got a better chance of winning than Jarod does.

"Maybe." Am I just like Damon? What does that mean? If I win, am I going to end up an alcoholic and argue with all of the tributes of District Twelve that I have to mentor? I sure hope not. But maybe he has reason to be like that.

"It must be hard for him. To mentor all of the kids from Twelve that are tributes, only to watch them die. Maybe that's why he's so hostile and a drunk." I share with her. It's got to be.

"I'm sure it is. If I had to mentor tributes each year just to watch them die I would probably not being a very happy person to be around. But that still doesn't give him a right to be rude to us." She says. I think about it. As hard as it must be for him, you'd think he'd feel more sorry than hostile.

We stop at her door.

"Goodnight, Maysilee." I say

"Goodnight, Haymitch." She responds. She starts to close the door. I start to walk down the hall to my room.

"Oh, Maysilee?" I turn and call.

"Yes?" She answers.

"Thank you." I tell her.

She looks confused. "For what?"

"For being there." I answer and head to my room.

When I get to my room, I lie on the bed and try to get to sleep.


	9. Exploring

**Here's chapter 9, we hope you like it! (:**

** The next chapter won't be up for a couple of days because we need to get caught up on writing, sorry guys! We'll try to be as fast as we can.  
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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

I've been lying in bed for an hour and a half from a result of not being able to stop thinking. Thinking about my family and how I miss them terribly, about weather or not I have a shot at becoming victor, what becoming the victor means will happen, like Haymitch's death, and about Haymitch himself.

There's no way I could kill Haymitch, even if that would guarantee me being victor. Putting aside my feelings towards him, he's a friend and I just couldn't do that. I know he's missing his family just as much as I am missing mine. The part of me that wants to win so I can see them again also wants him to win so that we can go back to his family. I'm dreading the Games. When I was reaped I was dreading them because I might die, but now I'm doing so because I don't know if I can live through what must happen if I do become the victor.

Then there's how I feel about Haymitch. As I looked into his eyes earlier I wanted to grab hold of him and tell him how I feel and never let go. But I can't do that; I can't risk losing my friendship with him. I value it too much. Plus, if I'm going to die soon wouldn't it just be better if I kept my feelings to myself? Or is the fact that I could die soon, be the very reason I shouldn't hold back from telling him?

All if this is too overwhelming so I decide to leave my room and go see if I can find something to distract me.

As I silently open my door I peer down the hall and spot Haymitch at the end of it looking out a window. So I close the door and head towards him.

"Couldn't sleep either?" I ask.

He turns around to answer me, "Too much on my mind." He responds.

"Me too. Would it help you if we talked about it?" I ask.

"Not really." He replies.

"Hmm, maybe what will help us both is to do a little exploring?"

"Okay." He agrees.

As we make our way down the hall I notice a door on the left that depicts a picture of a person going up some stairs. "Where do you think this leads to? The rooftop?" I don't wait for a response. "Let's go check it out!" I grab Haymitch's hand and drag him after me as I open the door and head up the stairs. As we reach the top there's another door and I push that one open as well. I feel a burst of cold air, it did indeed lead us to the rooftop. All that comes out of my mouth is, "Wow."

There's a garden complete with wind chimes, a birdbath, benches, and a water fountain situated in the middle of the roof and I make my way over to it.

"This is amazing!" I say incredibly as I go to sit down on one of the benches near the water fountain.

"Yes, it is." He says as he walks over towards the benches.

I look over at Haymitch and see that he is still standing. "Come, sit down." I grab his hand and pull him onto the bench next to me. While he might not feel the same way I do, friends can sit together on the same bench, right? I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach as we sit together. Neither of us is saying anything, letting our minds wander as we appreciate the view of the garden.

"So, it's way different here in the Capitol than District Twelve." Haymitch says after a while of silence.

"Yeah, back home we don't have bathrooms the size of living rooms and people dyed all the colors of the rainbow." I say, which makes him laugh.

"Yeah, your right! And our families would be horrified at all of the money and food that they waste here!" He tells me.

I quickly reply, "I think any family in any district would be disgusted." I pause and in a more somber voice I add, "How are our families going to watch us compete and possibly die, Haymitch? It's dreadful to think of them watching…" When I say this Haymitch pulls me into his arms.

After awhile I look up at him, and his eyes show such kindness that I blurt out, "It's the moments like these where without the hustle and bustle of training and focusing on the Games, that I start to think of how much I miss home… though I do feel like I have a little bit of home in you. I'm glad we are friends, Haymitch."

"Same here, Maysilee. Me too." He whispers.

As I sit there with Haymitch I lay my head on his shoulder. I find that I am really comfortable around him, just another thing that deepens my attraction towards him. It doesn't take long for me to start shivering though since we are up so high and the wind is starting to pick up. Haymitch notices and suggests we go back down and head to our rooms. I reluctantly agree, after all, I do need to get some sleep if I'm going to go through another day of training tomorrow. So he leads me back to my room and hugs me goodnight.

"Thanks for being there for me." I whisper, somewhat echoing his words to me the night before.

"I always will be." He whispers back and I swear my heart does a flip in my chest. Then he adds, "Goodnight, sleep tight."

When I slip into my room I marvel at how much better he made me feel about everything. I wish we could both make it out of the Games alive...but we can't. So I don't dwell on that for the moment as I hop into bed and drift off to sleep.

**Haymitch**

I've been lying on the bed for a good hour before I decide that sleep is a lost cause. My mind has no intentions of sleep and my body just doesn't want to lie still.

I get up. What am I going to do? I don't know. And what is the question implied to? What am I going to do about what? Getting to sleep? Jarod? Or what am I going to do about the whole Maysilee thing? That question could be about a lot of things, and in all honesty, I don't have a clue what to do.

I don't know what the right thing to do is about any of them. There are several things I could do. I could go and find some alcohol or some sleep medicine to solve the sleeping dilemma. I could go and kick Jarod's butt and see if I could get away with it. I'm still stumped with the Maysilee thing though. I've admitted how I feel about her. Not to her. But I have admitted it to myself. I care for her and I really like her. I could tell her. But would that ruin our friendship? And what's the point anyway. One of us is going to die soon, if not the both of us, and odds are that both of us will. Will I regret it if I don't? I don't know that either. Jeez, what do I know?

Now, I have given myself a headache. Way to much thinking for a guy who acts on impulse. This is the time where I need someone to tell me what to do.

I walk to the door and grab a robe and some slippers. I've never worn either, but if I'm going to die soon, then I'm going to do whatever I want. I leave the room and head down to Maysilee's room. I don't hear anything and I'm not going to wake her up just because I can't sleep. I walk over to the window where I watched the party going on in the Capitol yesterday.

It's dead quiet out there now. I guess the Capitol has nothing to celebrate today. I can actually see the Capitol and all of its fancy decorations. Now that there are no people out there partying, it looks nice and peaceful. I wish I could walk around on the streets. But they won't let me. I'm not allowed to leave the building without an army of peacekeepers, Rosale, and Damon.

I wonder what my family is doing right now. Are they asleep? How are they coping? I really miss Eric. He's always been there for me and I've always been there for him. Even though he is four years younger than me, he is my best friend and I could do anything with him. He's still a kid and not only was he forced through his first reaping this year but now he has to watch his brother fight for his life in the Games. I hope he is doing ok. My mother on the other hand is probably crying. I'll bet she hasn't stopped crying since we said goodbye at the Justice Building. My poor mother. I hate to see her cry, let alone be the cause of the tears, even if it's not my fault.

I hear a door open behind me.

"Couldn't sleep, either?" Maysilee asks.

I turn to her. I really want to tell her about everything. Maybe she can help me figure everything out. But what if I overwhelm her, especially about how I feel about her? Then, I'll lose her as a friend and have nothing left.

"Too much on my mind." I answer. If only she knew how much.

"Me too. Would it help you if we talked about it?" She consoles.

"Not really." I say. I haven't got anything figured out enough for that.

"Hmm, maybe what will help us both is to do a little exploring?" She asks

"Okay." I reply

We start walking down the long hallway. Floor twelve is actually pretty big. There are at least fifteen rooms; storage, empty rooms, bedrooms, the dining room, remake rooms (for our stylists to fix us up), and there is this one door that Maysilee looks excited about.

"Where do you think this leads to? The rooftop?" She asks. She grabs m hand and yanks me through the door. "Let's go check it out!"

We climb up some stairs and make our way to the top of the training center. You can see the entire city from here and it looks incredible! And there is this garden more beautiful than any garden I've ever seen in District Twelve.

"Wow." Maysilee says. She walks over to the garden. "This is amazing!" And she sits on a bench next to the fountain.

"Yeah, it is." I say. Though, I just have a weird feeling about this. It is amazing. And they let us come up here. And I'm here alone, with Maysilee. I feel like this could be our sanctuary from the Games. At least for a few days.

I walk over to her. Where am I supposed to sit? Next to her? What if she doesn't feel the same way? Would me sitting next to her freak her out? Or what if I sat at the other bench? If she does feel that same way and I offend her without meaning to?

I guess she sees my dilemma because she grabs my hand and says, "Come, sit down." She pulls me to the bench and I sit right next to her.

We sit there in silence for a couple of minutes. Neither of us knows what to say.

"So, it's way different here in the Capitol than District Twelve." I break the silence.

"Yeah, back home we don't have bathrooms the size of living rooms and people dyed all the colors of the rainbow." Maysilee says. I laugh.

"Yeah, your right! And our families would be horrified at all of the money and food that they waste here!" I say. It's true. In District Twelve, we don't have much, and there are several nights that we go to bed hungry. In fact, we go to bed hungry more often than not.

"I think any family in any district would be disgusted." She says and then her face looks sad. "How are our families going to watch us compete and possibly die, Haymitch? It's dreadful to think of them watching..." I pull her to my arms to comfort her. We sit there for a little while and I hold her until she looks up and me.

"It's the moments like these were without the hustle and bustle of training and focusing on the Games, that I start to think of how much I miss home… though I do feel like I have a little bit of home in you. I'm glad we are friends, Haymitch." Maysilee tells me. I feel the same way.

"Same here, Maysilee. Me too." I say.

I still don't know if she feels the same way I do, but she does consider me a friend. A piece of home to her. Which I think of her the same way. We don't have anything else to remind us of where we came from, so why not have a good friend.

She leans against me with her head on my shoulder and we just sit there. I wish there was something we could do to make it so both of us could live. That no one has to die in the arena anymore. Another war wouldn't do us any good right now. And even if I did try to start one, how many people would be on my side? People would be too scared to fight and it might possibly be me against the Capitol. I don't know what I'm going to do.

Maysilee shivers and I know that it's time to go back to our rooms. It's getting cold and it's probably really late. And Rosale already told me I can't throw anymore alarm clocks at the door anymore.

"We should go back to our rooms." I say. "It won't do you any good to get hypothermia before you go into the arena."

I can tell she doesn't want to but she agrees to go, I think more on the fact that we'll have to get up early if we want to eat breakfast and get to training on time, than about her getting to cold.

I walk her to her room and hug her goodnight. I think she is still upset about our families watching us die.

"Thanks for being there for me." She says.

I turn and look into her bright blue eyes and say, "I always will be. Goodnight, sleep tight." Just like my mother always said to me when I was a little kid. And I head to my room.


	10. Training Scores

**Hi guys, so sorry for the wait for this update! Here's chapter 10, we hope you like it! (: Also we won't be able to do updates everyday like we did in the past, but we'll try to get them up in a timely fashion.**

**Thans for reading, everyone! (:**

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

The next two days go by in a whirl. I spend the second day of training going to more stations, like rock climbing and weapons. I decided to practice more with the blow gun and I was able to hit all the targets set up within an hour of practice.

When it was time for lunch Haymitch and I sat together again and discussed the other tributes' strengths and weaknesses that we've observed so far. Like the girl from District 6 for example, she seems to know her stuff when it comes to what plants are useful for remedies, but she lacks in physical strength.

The rest of the day I focus on some of the other stations I haven't visited yet. I try not to stay too long so that I can get as much information crammed into my head as possible by the end of training. And when it's time to head back to our floors for the night I feel that I know considerably more than I did at the start of the day.

After a lengthy dinner where we all talk about how training went, Haymitch and I head to the roof. We sit in peace for awhile and watch the sunset over the Capitol.

Then we start talking about home. I tell him all about my family.

I tell him about my twin sister, Myrella, who doesn't have a very strong will, but who is a very caring person. Her and I are inseparable back home. Then I move on to my parents, who are a perfect match. There's my mom who always puts others before herself and my father who strives to make sure we have everything he never had and more. It's unfair that they have to watch one of their children fight for her life in the arena where the odds of making it out alive are very very slim. Finally I tell him about my friend Laurel. She has an affinity towards medicine, and is like another sister to me.

Haymitch then told me about his loved ones. How his mother is an amazing cook and can make something great from virtually nothing. And how his brother Eric is his best friend. The whole time he talked about them there was a smile on his face. I can tell he loves his family dearly, and it broke my heart to think that he might not be able to see them again.

Soon it became too cold so we headed back down to our rooms and hugged each other goodnight.

At the last day of training I tackled some of the remaining stations and tried to think about what I will do at my private session with the gamemakers. And after what appeared to be no time at all we were all called to lunch where I am now currently waiting for my turn to go in front of the gamemakers. This is where being in District 12 is a disadvantage. Especially if you are the female tribute. That means that I am the very last one to show them what I can do. The waiting is killing me. So far, the tributes up to District 8 have gone. I can't seem to keep still; I am fidgeting in my seat and it is only getting worse as the time goes by. Soon Haymitch takes hand in his and slowing rubs the back of it with his thumb. Gratitude quickly engulfs me as I think about how grateful I am to have someone I can call a friend sitting here with me right now. Though, a voice in the back of head tells me that really this isn't good at all since my friend could be dead in a matter of days, as well as myself. But for the moment, I quite that voice and focus on what is currently happening.

The rest of the tributes eventually head back into the training room one by one for their private sessions and it's just Haymitch and myself left.

"Knock 'em dead Haymitch!" I tell him. After all, if I don't win than I want him too. And doing well in these private sessions means a high training score, which then gets you sponsors.

"I always do." He cockily says to me.

And with that, Haymitch's name is called and I give his hand a squeeze before he heads off. I then start to get fidgety again without Haymitch here, luckily none of the others are here to see as they all are required to head back to their rooms after their session.

It doesn't take long though for my name to be called. So I get up, try to hold my head high, and walk into the training room. The gamemakers are all at a desk eating their dinner and don't even appear to be paying any attention. While this does calm my nerves, it also worries me that they won't give me a fair training score. I decide to use the blowgun since I am pretty good at that and it hopefully won't be something boring that the other gamemakers have seen repeatedly. While I was waiting for my turn I thought back to previous Games and I don't remember anyone using a blow gun in recent years, so hopefully this will make me stick out.

So when I grab the blowgun I position myself in front of the targets and give it all I have. And within 5 minutes all the targets have a dart in the center circle. I look over at the gamemakers and while some aren't paying attention it seems that at least half are giving me approving nods and a few are even clapping.

I am then dismissed and I take a deep calming breath as I head to the elevator and zip up to floor 12.

That night we receive our training scores. The scores can range from 1 to 12.

I nervously await my score next to Haymitch on the couch. As the pictures of the other tributes flash by along with their scores dread fills me when I see some have received 11s. I'm terrified to think what those tributes showed that got them such high scores. They will be ones to watch out for. I clutch Haymitch's hand when it District 12's turn. Lucy's picture comes up and she receives a score of 5, and soon after Jarod's shows up with a 6. Lucy becomes a little upset but Jarod on the other hand seems enraged. He storms off to his room without a word. Next up is Haymitch, he receives a 10.

Damon mutters a 'good job', while Rosale enthusiastically claps and says, "Great job Haymitch, I'm so proud!"

I turn to Haymitch with a smile on my face and say, "That's a great score, congrats!" And I really mean it, I'm so happy for him. He's sure to get some sponsors with that score!

I look back at the screen and my picture comes up…with a 9 underneath! My mouth drops open. There's no way that can be right! A 9? All I did was use a blowgun! The originality factor must have been greater than I thought. I'm absolutely thrilled, I'm sure to at least get one or two sponsors now!

Haymitch congratulates me and Rosale claps again and seems pretty pleased to have two high scoring tributes. Damon just mutters a response again, 'that's pretty good'. I wasn't really expecting much from him so I just grin back and say thanks to everyone, still clutching Haymitch's hand.

**Haymitch**

I felt like I'd been asleep for only a couple minutes when I heard her. The sound of those annoying shoes walking down the hall to my room. Wow, I can now anticipate her coming. Great.

_Click-clack ,click-clack, click-clack. Knock, knock, knock. _I must be cutting it close to the time that we are supposed to be at the training center.

"Haymitch! Time to wake up!" She says in a sing song voice.

"I'm up." I say. I know that she'll keep knocking if I don't get up now. Who knows she might even get Damon. I look at the clock. It's eight-thirty.

I take a quick shower and get dressed in the clothes that have been left out for me again. Same clothes as yesterday.

I head to the dining cart and fill up my plate. I have to hurry and eat because I have to be at the training center in fifteen minutes. My food is all gone from my plate within minutes.

When I get to the elevator, it's eight fifty-six. I wonder what they would do if I skipped training? Would Rosale come and drag me by the ear down there? Would Damon kick my butt? Would they just think that if I don't come to training that I don't care if I win or not and leave me alone? I don't know what they would do. But I'm not thinking about skipping out, especially if I can try to help either me or Maysilee win.

So, I'm the last one at the training center. Everyone else has already started working at the stations. I decided that I was going to work with the weapons today. The Careers are all there now and they are giving me dirty looks, but what do I care. According to the rules, I can work with anything I want and they can't pick a fight with me. And according to Damon, they will keep messing with me until we get into the arena. And as long as I don't provoke them, I won't become their number one target in the arena, which normally I wouldn't care and take them on, but my goal in this competition is making sure that the winner isn't a Career. If the winner isn't me, it's going to be Maysilee. I'm going to make sure of that.

Training goes by really slow today. By lunch time I feel as if I've been at the weapon station for the whole day. And only half has past. I eat lunch with Maysilee again and we discuss the other tributes' strengths and weaknesses.

After lunch, I spend the rest of the day rotating stations. I still don't know what I am going to do for the private training session for the Gamemakers. When the whistle blows and the training is over, I head to the elevators. The Careers are the first ones on again and I don't see Maysilee. So I head up the stairs. It's only twelve floors after all.

I am breathing heavily when I finally reach the twelfth floor and go to my room for a shower.

When I get out I get dressed in some jeans and a t-shirt and Rosale is knocking on my door when I am outing on my shoes.

"Dinner time, Haymitch." She says.

We go to dinner and it goes by even slower than training. And when it's over Maysilee and I go straight up to the roof, not even stopping by our rooms. We watch the sun set in the Capitol and enjoy the nice breeze that is going through the air.

She tells me about her family. Her sister Myrella and her parents. Her friend Laurel. The things she misses from home.

I tell her about my family and tell her that Eric is my best friend and how my mother could make a decent meal out of anything I brought her. It feels like I should be sad talking about my family, knowing that I will probably never see them again, but Maysilee makes me forget about what is to come in the days ahead when I talk to her. I feel happy when I'm with her.

When it gets cold we head back to our rooms and go to bed. One more day of training, then there is the interview day. After that, we are in the arena and only one is going to come out alive.

When I'm lying there in bed, I'm thinking about the other night, when Maysilee thanked me for being there. I said "I always will be." Was that a mistake? What if I can't be there and she dies? Maybe I should have said "I will always try to be"? But would that have sounded too insincere? I keep throwing words I could have said instead and none of them seem right. Maybe I just should've said "Your Welcome" like any normal person would have said. But no, I just have to be difficult, don't I.

I wake up early the next morning. Today is the day that I preform for the Gamemakers and they give me my score. I shower, dress, and head to the dining room. Nobody is there, but there is a table full of food ready for my disposal. I eat like there is no tomorrow, but who knows what the next few days will bring me. I can't sit there by myself for any longer, so I head to the raining center. There is more than enough time for me to get there, so I take the stairs again. When I get there, there is only one other tribute. One from District Three. I don't remember his name, but he's small. I'd take a guess that he was twelve years old, thirteen at most. Poor kid. The other tributes poured in, all forty-six of them.

Then the training starts. I keep rotating and go to every station for fifteen minutes each. I want to make sure that I get to all of them. I also want to make sure that I can figure out what I am going to do for. When lunch comes, I have still have no idea what I am going to do. Maybe some knife throwing. Or I'll try some knots. I think I'll stick to the knife throwing. I don't really care what my score is. The higher it is, the more people I'll have tracking me down. Though, I don't really want it too low. I still need sponsors. I'm second to last, being a boy from District Twelve. The boy goes first in the private training sessions, the girl goes last. But this year, since there is double, there is a kind of pattern going on. Boy, girl, boy, girl, from each district. And I am the second boy.

Maysilee is sitting next to me. I can tell she's anxious. She won't stop moving. I grab her hand and rub the back of it. My mother used to do this to me when I was upset or sad and it always made me feel better.

"Knock 'em dead, Haymitch." She says

"I always do." I say and smile back at her.

We sit there for a few more minutes. My name is called. I hate to leave her, but I have to. She squeezes my hand as I stand.

It's weird to walk into the training center when no one is in there. I can do whatever I want. What should I do?

I see the knives and go grab them. Then I got to the dummies and start throwing them. I hit all ten of the dummies.

I don't think I'm really impressing the Gamemakers. They are just eating their food and drinking. So I grab all of the knives and decide to try from a different level. I strap them to my belt and climb up the rock climbing wall. When I get to the top, I stand on the ledge. I throw the knives at the dummies again. I hit eight of them. So I climb back down and retrieve the knives again. Now I'm just going to keep throwing them from short distance.

I'm finally released and I head back to my room to wait until dinner. I didn't eat much during lunch so I order some snacks and relax on my bed.

Dinner comes and goes. There isn't much talking. Everyone is nervous about their training scores.

We head to the other room with the TV and a huge couch for everyone to sit on. I sit by Maysilee. The scores for the other districts are ok. Nines, tens and a few elevens for the Careers. Mostly fives, sixes, and sevens for those who aren't Careers.

Finally District Twelve's faces pop up. Lucy gets a five and she starts crying. Jarod gets a six. He is really angry and he stomps away.

Finally my face pops up and now I realized how truly worries I was about getting a bad score.

I got a ten. I have no idea how that could have happened. It's not like they were even paying any attention to me.

Everyone congratulates me. Even Maysilee, she looks so happy about my score.

Then Maysilee's score is announced. Nine. That's a really good score! She looks surprised. Like she can't believe it. I congratulate her and so does everyone else. She says thanks to everyone and smiles. She doesn't stop smiling until we get to her room and say goodnight.


	11. Preparations

**Hey guys, here's chapter 11! We hope you like it! (: And as always, we'd _love_ it if you commented/reviewed! **

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

"Maysilee, time to get up!" a voice singsongs. It takes a moment for me to register that this isn't apart of the dream I was having about a peaceful day in the spring when my sister and I were having a picnic in the meadow. I groggily turn and stare at the clock. It's 6 am. I groan. Today is the day we practice for our interviews that take place tomorrow.

After I take a quick shower and change I head to the main room and throw myself down on the couch. No one else seems to be up, that's strange. I'm not the only one who is practicing today, and there had been someone up who had woken me up…..

"Ah, there you are Maysilee!" says Rosale who walks in from the dining room with a cup of coffee. "So, this year is going to be a little different. Usually you spend four hours with your mentor and four hours with your escort. But seeing as there are double the number of tributes this year, you will be spending two hours with me and two hours with Damon."

Relieve floods through me; thank goodness I don't have to spend eight hours prepping for tomorrow. "Alright," I say. "Sounds good. So who is with Damon right now then?"

"Haymitch." She replies.

I try to fight back the urge to laugh. I bet Haymitch is thrilled! Something tells me that it wasn't a random pick that Damon choose Haymitch to be one of the tributes forced to get up early.

"With me you will practice your etiquette. Let's head back to your room."

For the next two hours Rosale teaches me to do things that I will probably only use one day in my life; the interview day. First, she has me walk around the room in a dress and high heels. When she is satisfied that I can do this without considerable fault, she has me sit down in a chair with good posture.

"Sit nice and tall, and smiley broadly! That's it!" she tells me. Finally we work on a proper handshake. I'm not kidding; we practice how to shake hands. I laugh to myself at the absurdity of this.

She tells me things like, "not so fast", and "a little firmer dear", until I feel like my arm has turned to jelly.

Finally she announces that I am fit for being in front of the crowd and instructs me to wait for Damon to arrive.

Ten minutes goes by before Damon finally saunters in.

"Okay, so, I will be coaching you on how you will answer the questions during your interview and how you are perceived in front of the capitol."

He studies me for a moment before saying, "I've been observing you these last few days, and I think you seem like the Panem's sweetheart type mixed with a intelligent girl. You were smart enough to try most of the stations and you seemed to pick up something useful for the arena. The whole country is curious about you, you seem nice and they are all wondering how you got that score of yours. While you can't tell them what happened in your private station, I want you to open up more and let everyone know more about you. Maybe talk about your family and how you are doing so far here in the capitol. Try to make your intelligence show through but not enough so that the other tributes mark you as a huge competitor; someone they need to keep an eye on."

I am taken aback by his words. I had no idea what Panem's perception of me has been, and I'm kind of pleased to be marked as a sweetheart. On the other hand, this is also a disadvantage as sponsors probably don't go for the sweetheart type as they are usually the first to die. I bet he's right; everyone probably is very curious as to how I obtained a 9. That's something that I'm quite curious about myself. While I do like to identify myself as being pretty smart, I usually get some of the top grades in school, I never considered myself to be intelligent. This pleases me tremendously. If Damon saw this quality in me, maybe the sponsors will too!

Damon asks me a few questions here and there as a sort of mock interview the rest of the time and I offer him the best answers I can think of and before I know it he's telling me that our time is up.

"Well, I think you will manage to get at least a few sponsors once they find out more about you tomorrow. Just remember, open up and show your smart side too. Just not too much. The rest of the day is yours, do whatever you want. Just make it on time to dinner or else we'll all have an unhappy Rosale to deal with." And with that he leaves.

I'm not sure what to do for the rest of the day at first, but it doesn't take long for me to think of the garden on the roof. It's my favorite place here in the capitol. It's my own little sanctuary, which Haymitch frequents with me.

As I rush out of my room and up the stairs to the roof I wonder how Haymitch's prep time went. I'll have to ask him when I see him next. That moment seems to present itself in a matter of moments for as I step out onto the roof I see that he is already here sitting on one of the benches in the garden. He spots me and smiles.

I make my way over there and plop myself down next to him. I pull my legs up and underneath me and lean my head on his shoulder.

"How'd your prep time go?" I ask him.

**Haymitch**

I slept pretty good last night. I'm not really sure why though. Maybe it was because of the score I got. That will hopefully make it so I will get more sponsors. I think that is it. And the fact that Maysilee got a good score, too, makes me feel better.

I hear a knock on my door.

"Wake up. It's time to start our training session, Haymitch." That's weird. Normally Rosale wakes me up. I wonder why Damon is. Did Rosale already come by and went to get Damon when I didn't get up?

I get up and cross the room to the door and open it to see Damon, not angry looking, but not particularly thrilled.

He comes inside.

"Order some breakfast for us and we'll start you training. I am going to help you with you interview preparation today." He tells me.

"Just one question. Why me first?" I yawn. I wish I could've gotten more sleep.

"Because you and Maysilee are the ones I think are the most likely tributes, from District Twelve to win. Rosale is already working with Maysilee, so it's my turn with you. And I really don't feel like starting my day with two hours of Jarod nagging me to tell him what you and her are doing that I approve so much of." He quickly tells me.

"What is it that we are doing that you approve of?" I ask.

"You and her became friends. Not something that I would suggest, but it has helped you two. You seem to have gotten over the fact that you will probably be dying and are living the rest of your lives as best you can. Lucy and Jarod are still crying all the time and feeling sorry for themselves." He explains. "You just have to remember that your new best friend may be dying soon and you'll have to be able to except that if you are the one to live and win the games. Same thing with her."

"Ok. So what are we working on today?" I really don't want to work on anything. Especially since I don't think I'll use anything they'll teach me.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but you are a lot like me. So I think we should try to play out your interview like I did. Well we are going to see if that works now." He says. "Now, I think you can fit the arrogance and cocky category. What do you think?"

"That sounds just like me… So I should just be myself? Is that going to get me any sponsors?" I ask. Well if it works, I like it.

"Well, if the audience thinks you are smart enough to win, yes. That's why you got to play it right. You have to manipulate them if you're going to do it that way. You have to make them think that you are the winner." He tells me. He pretends to be an interviewer and asks me questions about myself. I answer and when he is impressed with my interviewing skills he gives me advice.

"When something drastic happens in the arena, the Gamemakers are trying to draw you together. So beware of that. Always keep an eye out, and when you do have to sleep, find a hidden place where no one will find you. You don't want to be slaughtered in your sleep. Keep moving and when you have to attack someone, take them by surprise. It'll be much quicker and you'll have a much smaller chance of getting injured, thus keeping you able for other fights. Don't let them take you by surprise though. And one last thing, if you have an alliance with Maysilee, don't let it go on to far. You don't want it to come down between the two of you. If you guys are close, you won't be able to kill each other and the Gamemakers will make it happen one way or another. They would starve you, torture you with mutants and weather, do anything to make sure there is only one winner." He floods me with all of this information. Then he gets up and heads to the door. "And by the way, good job on your training score." And he leaves.

I relax and snack on some bread for about five minutes. I think about all of the advice Damon gave me. Now that, I will defiantly use. And from what he told me, the Gamemakers are truly evil.

Rosale struts in. I can tell she's not looking forward to working with me.

"I have two hours to turn you into a gentleman." She tells me.

I laugh. "Haven't you heard, Rosale? I'm going to be myself tomorrow!" I tell her. She looks astounded. Like that's the worst idea anyone could come up with.

"Well, I don't see how that's going to help but I'm still going to teach you proper etiquette." She says, trying to put some authority in her words.

"Ok then. I'm not sure if you can do that to me in two hours though." I laugh again. She's got this determined look on her face.

She's has me working the whole two hours. First, she teaches me how to walk 'properly' because apparently I've been walking "all wrong since the day I learned" is how she put it. I really don't notice any difference from the way I walk to the way she wants me to walk. Then, we go over handshake, smiles and eye contact. After that, she makes me talk properly. Never say yeah, say yes. Oh and don't forget to smile. She constantly has to remind me to smile.

"I don't know what Damon is thinking, having you be yourself for the interview. You want the audience to like you!" She keeps going on and on about that.

Finally my two hours are up and she leaves looking worn out. Well, I was practicing for the interview, I think to myself.

So, not knowing what to do now, I head up to the roof. Maybe Maysilee will be there. She's not. But the day is so nice, I decide to stay and sit down on a bench.

I hear Maysilee coming up the stairs and turn around to face the door. When I see her I smile. She comes and sits next to me and puts her head on my shoulder.

"So how'd your prep time go?" She asks.


	12. Interviews

**We're so sorry for the wait! We hope you like it! (:**

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

The interviews are held on a stage in front of the Training Center. Two rows of chairs are situated in an arch in front the crowd.

Currently I am waiting for the host to announce us district by district to walk onto the stage. To distract myself from my nervousness I think back to earlier today.

I saw my prep team for what could possibly be the last time. Even though we don't go into the arena until late morning tomorrow, it will only be our stylist who gets us ready that day. Caius, Ophie, and Tara all wished me luck and assured me that they think I will make it far in the Games. Their words don't provide me with any reassurance since they aren't educated or experienced on what it does take to make it far, but I think they truly meant it and for that I am grateful. My stylist Jolene on the other hand only offered me these words, "Put this on." And by 'this' she meant a flowy blue dress, the color of my eyes, that goes past my knees with a cinched empire waist and floral designs. After that she marched out of the room without another word.

I snap back to reality when I hear Caesar Flickerman call District 12 to the stage. I stand up straight and follow Lucy, who is already making her way onstage.

I notice Haymitch heading for the back row so I follow him over and take the chair on his left. My nerves have magnetized in front of the crowd and I seem to even be shaking a little. Haymitch notices and grabs my hand. This seems to be a regular thing between us. I can't seem to remain calm unless I'm holding his hand. I'm surprised by the pull he has on me that I hadn't realized before. He really is not the guy I thought he was back home. I wish I would have gotten to know him before the Games, then we could have had the opportunity to be friends longer and maybe even more… A sneak a look at Haymitch and a pang of longing hits me in that moment. I'm so taken aback that I have to whip my head over to Caesar because I feel like I was caught in the act of something I shouldn't be doing. Which I guess in a way I was. I can't have feelings for another tribute, only one of us can survive. If I allow myself to start having these feelings of infatuation I'll only end up with my heart broken.

My thoughts have engrossed so much of my attention that when I remember that I should be paying attention to the interviews I see that the tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 3 have already gone. I'm cross with myself as I could have learned something valuable from my opponents. Something to help me defeat them which I should be thinking of to allow myself the chance to return home, and not my crush on some boy.

I take my hand back from Haymitch, who gives me a puzzled look but doesn't say anything, and I turn my attention instead to the rest of the interviews.

Throughout the rest of the interviews I take in some information about my competitors. Like one of the guys from District 5 for instance, he seems to be around 17. He doesn't appear to be exceptionally muscled but he does give off an air of being superior in intelligence. And if he really is smart than I need to look out for him, the smart ones know not to make stupid mistakes that get them killed. Like eating a poisonous plant, or starting a fire at a time when it's easy to see the smoke.

There's also a twelve year old from eight, who seems too scared to say anything. I feel bad for her; the chances of her making it out alive are very slim. She seems like a nice little girl too, I wish she didn't have to compete. It's barbaric, having us all fight to the death for the Capitol's enjoyment. We can't speak up against it though, that might cause our district to be annihilated like district thirteen was. We're completely defenseless. I hope this changes someday. Maybe even in my lifetime if I make it out alive. I don't want to see anymore friends or loved ones die for these sick games.

Lucy is soon called up which means I'm next. She breaks down into tears almost immediately. I start feeling bad for her too. Not because I particularly like her, but because I hate to see people cry.

Caesar isn't able to get much out of her during her interview. Then he's calling my name.

I stand up, aware that all eyes are on me, and go to stand next to Caesar at the microphone. Each year he wears a midnight blue suit, and then dyes his hair, eyelids, and lips a color of his choosing. This year he is sporting a dark green color. He looks horrific. But I just give him a smile and mentally prepare myself for his questions.

"Welcome, Maysilee!" he starts. "How are you liking the Capitol so far?"

"It's alright," I tell him. "I haven't been able to see much due to my training, but the view from the roof is amazing!" I admit, I am trying to suck up to the Capitol a little bit. I don't really want to be complimenting this place, but I do need sponsors. I sure hope they're worth it.

"Fabulous! So, what do you think about the Games having double the tributes this year?"

"Oh, it's quite weird. I never imagined this would happen. With just 24 tributes the Games seemed like quite the challenge!"

"Of course, as it's designed to be. But let's talk about your training score. It's a great score! We are all so curious to know how that happened, any hints?"

"I'm sure you are, but I can't release what happened during the private sessions, sorry Caesar!" I tell him. "But let's just say, definitely don't count me out. While it might seem impossible with forty-seven other competitors, I still know a thing or two about how to survive from my training."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of counting you out! I'm actually quite interested to see what it is that got you that score!" Just then the buzzer goes off. "Well thank you so much Maysilee, and I wish you the best of luck," he tells me as I head back to me seat.

"Thanks!" I reply with a quick smile.

When I sit down I realize I didn't seem nervous at all. That's so strange, as I never do well speaking in front of large amounts of people. I guess I was just so focused on making sure I was noticed and didn't seem like a weak competitor. Well, I tell myself, I think you succeeded. My greatest wish is that the sponsors took notice of me but I didn't seem like a huge enough threat to go after at the beginning to my competition.

Jarod goes up next. He doesn't seem like himself at all, and unless I'm mistaken it seems like he's trying to appeal to the girls. I try not to laugh, as I can tell he isn't succeeding in the slightest.

His time is soon over and Haymitch stands and walks over to Caesar when his name is called.

Haymitch has me entertained the whole time. I can tell he's being himself, he doesn't seem to care about ripping on the games at all. He tells Caesar he thinks it will be stupid which causes the crowd to laugh, and me along with them. When Haymitch's interview is done I swear my stomach hurts from laughing so hard, and I smile at him as he returns to his seat beside me.

The anthem starts playing and we are ushered off the stage and onto an elevator back up to our floor.

After dinner the interviews are replayed so we all sit down to watch. Jarod is as angry as always the whole time, and all Lucy can do is criticize the other tributes on a shallow level. I begin to like her less and less each day. Both of them, for that matter.

**Haymitch**

Finally, it's time for the interview. Each Tribute gets three minutes of fame during the interview. All forty-eight of us. That's over two hours of people talking about themselves and trying to get sponsors. One hundred and forty-four minutes. And only three of them are mine. Wow this is going to be nerve wrecking and boring. I don't really care what the others have to say. And I am scheduled to go last. The last interview. This is really going to suck. In school, when we've had to do projects and present them, I learned that there are only two presenters that people ever remember. The first and the last. And the one that they remember the most is the last. So if I screw up and bomb the interview, people aren't just going to remember it, that's one of the only things that they are going to remember. That I screwed up.

After a long day with Sampson and the prep team, it is finally time for Rosale and Damon escort us to the stage. And I mean long. The whole day they were prettying me up for the interview. I have absolutely no idea why it took so long, I could have done it in five minutes, but they took all day.

Now, I'm dressed in a fancy black suit, a red tie, and dress shoes. There is gel in my hair. And it is combed with a nice part on the side. I completely hate it. All of it. I don't look anything like myself and I don't feel comfortable wearing this monkey suit.

Rosale just keeps talking and talking as we walk to the stage. Damon is clenching his fists, I think he is getting annoyed by her.

"Good luck! You guys will be awesome! Oh and don't forget to smile!" Rosale says in her usual optimistic, happy voice.

"Good luck." Damon says. Then he turns to me. "Remember, manipulation is the key if you are going to pull it off." He whispers this in my ear. Way to put more pressure on me, Damon. I think.

We are ushered onto the stage single file and sit in our seats. There are two rows this year instead of just one. We get the four on the end of the arch. Maysilee and I sit in the two in the back row. She looks really nervous again so I grab her hand. I know how she feels. I wish we could just get this over with as soon as possible. But I am last and she is right before Jarod.

The District One girls go up and then the boys. Then District Two, Three and Four. This is taking forever. And I guess it doesn't help that I don't listen to what they have to say. I know that they are killing machines. They are in the Career pack along with Districts Two and Four. It's usually them who win the games.

Maysilee pulls her hand out of mine and sits it on her lap. I'm confused. Am I taking it too far? Was her hand falling asleep? Maybe it's just not calming her like I thought it was. Well, I'm not going to dwell on it. She looks sad. I'll talk to her about it later.

Five, Six, Seven. They seriously had to pick twice the tributes this year? Really? I am probably the most impatient person, yet I have to wait the longest! How annoying!

Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven. Almost there. Almost done with tonight. Almost.

"And from District Twelve we have Lucy Payton!" Caesar Flickerman says. Lucy's interview goes on for what seems like an hour. And she starts crying again.

"And now, let's just give Maysilee Donner a round of applause!" He shouts. Her interview is pretty much the only one I'm completely focused on. She is sweet and the whole audience is falling at her feet. They love her. I would sponsor her if I could. But, I can't and soon her three minutes are up and it's time for Jarod.

"Now, it's Jarod Hale's turn!" Caesar announces. Jared walks up there and is a total fake. He seems to be trying to impress all of the girls of Panem. Well, if I was a girl, I most defiantly wouldn't be impressed. I'm tempted to throw something at him.

"Now for the last tribute, Haymitch Abernathy, let's give him a warm welcome!" Caesar says.

I walk up to the hot seat and sit down.

"So tell me Haymitch, how has your time in the Capitol been?" He asks me.

Annoying, horrible, I hate it. Those are all things I want to say, but instead I say, "So far so good. I like the food." I answer.

"And how are you doing away from your family?" He asks.

"I miss them. But I'm going to make them proud." I say. I don't feel like I'm being cocky enough. Got to work on that. I hear the audience sigh.

"So, Haymitch, what do you think of the Games having one hundred percent more competitors than usual?" asks Caesar.

I shrug. "I don't see that it will make much difference. They'll still be one hundred percent as stupid as usual, so I figure that my odds will be roughly the same." There is the cockiness and arrogance. The crowd is roaring with laughter.

"Well, you are a funny one. And you sure have the confidence!" Caesar comments.

I smile, the audience is laughing and applauding. I think I'm doing a better job of winning over the ladies than Jarod did.

"Where do you think you stand in the Games?" He asks.

"Well, Caesar," I pretend to be all formal, "I know I stand pretty high up. I'm fast, quick , smart, and good in high pressure situations. Oh, and did I mention that I'm really cocky?" Everyone laughs again. Caesar takes a few seconds to catch his breath.

"What would you say your greatest strength in the arena would be?" Caesar asks.

"I would say that my greatest strength would be… that I am sly and my opponents won't know what to expect. And they have to know that I will be expecting them to attack me. But between you and me, I'm going to get to them first." I say in a pretend whisper. I think I'm playing the cocky part very well. And the arrogance. I look over to Damon and he is laughing. He gives me a thumbs up and I smirk. I think they think I'm indifferent or snarky. Well, the audience seems to love my haughtiness, hopefully it will get me some sponsors.

The buzzer rings and I stand up and walk over to my seat next to Maysilee. She seems to have enjoyed my interview. I'm glad she did.

Everyone stands for the anthem. Then we all head back inside the Training Center. When we arrive at the elevator we head up to our floor and go straight to dinner. Dinner is full of conversation.

After dinner we watch the replay of the interviews. Jarod is glaring at me the whole time. I don't think he likes the fact that he failed at winning over the hearts of the country and he tried so hard, while I just made them laugh and they fell instantly in love with me. Lucy stays quiet throughout most of the replay time, but she sure does have some complaints about all of the tributes.

"That hair is so fake… He is so stupid!... Who would say that?..." She kept saying. When it got to her, she got really quiet again.

Maysilee's interview comes on. She's amazing and the crowd adores her. They want too hear more about her when they timer goes off. Gee, I even want to hear more. Then Jarod comes on the screen for his recap and its more obvious than ever that he sucked at winning the hearts of the capitol. My interview comes on and I was right, at first I didn't seem that cocky but I did work my way into it.

Damon and Rosale are ecstatic. Especially Rosale. She is so happy with our interviews she starts jumping up and down with joy.

Damon comes to me and says, "You played it good kid." He then grabs a bottle of wine and heads to his room.


	13. Alliance

We can not begin to express how sorry we are for the lack of updates! Darn school just gets in the way... Thank you so much for those of you who has stuck with us! We greatly appreciate, you can't imagine how much so! We hope you like this chapter, please let us know what you think in the comments! (:

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><p>Haymitch<p>

After the interview replay, I walk Maysilee to her room. We don't talk at all. Just walking, that's it. Until I say goodnight, that is. I'm not sure if she heard me though. She seems kind of… I don't know… Distracted? I feel like she's drifting away from me. Then I go to my room.

I get back to my room and try to relax. It's hard. I know there is something going on with Maysilee. I wonder if I offended her in some way.

So I take a shower. Try to let the hot water calm my muscles. But that does not calm my brain. My mind is still thinking about her. She took her hand out of mine. She never does that. She didn't talk at all when I walked her to her room. She usually does. _Did_ I offend her? Or maybe she realized that I really care for her, and doesn't feel the same. I don't know.

I get out of the shower and dress in some pajamas. I lie down in bed. That doesn't do me any good. I'm going to be up all night thinking about this unless I get some answers. So I find some slippers and head to her room.

I get to her door and am about to knock, when I think, what am I going to say? I don't know. Should I just wing it? Oh I know! I'll ask her to go to the roof with me! I knock on the door.

But what if she doesn't come? Uh oh. Now I'm having second thoughts. Should I run? Oh no, I hear her coming to the door. Darn it. What am I going to do?

She opens the door. "Haymitch, what are you doing here?" She asks. She's surprised to see me.

I take a deep breath. "Will you come up to the roof with me?" I finally get out.

"Ummm… I don't know…" She thinks about this for a minute. I am really starting to feel something eating at me. Fear? No. Anger? No. Hurt? Maybe. I don't know. "Ok." She finally says. I can tell she is reluctant. I don't really know what to think about that.

We walk up to the roof in silence. When we finally get there we go to the benches and sit, not talking for another few minutes. I don't know what to say. Well I could be blunt and just ask her what is wrong, but I just don't want to hurt her feelings.

"Maysilee…" I don't really know what to say.

She cuts me off. "Haymitch, I can't be in an alliance with you." She pauses, "You're my friend, now. I can't lose you and I can't kill you. What am I supposed to do?" She says. Her blue eyes are looking straight into mine. "I can't just stand by and watch you die, it wou-" I kiss her. I don't know what made me do it, but I did.

It was a magical feeling when our lips met. Electrifying. Then her lips felt warm and soft against mine. Amazing! When our lips part, I look at Mayilsee and see that she is very surprised by that kiss. I'm not sure if she is happy or upset about it. I blush and try to apologize.

"I'm sorry. That was stupid of me. I shouldn't have done that. And I honestly had no intentions of kissing you when I brought you up here… I darn it, I mean that wasn't planned… Oh how do I say this without being rude? I… I umm…" The next thing I know she kisses me. I guess my apologies were for nothing. She didn't mind the kiss!

I kiss her back eagerly. I'm seriously falling for this girl. She just makes me feel on top of the world. I wonder if she still doesn't want to be in an alliance with me. I'll ask her that later. This is a long, intense kiss. I like it. I put my hand on the side of her face and we keep with the long intense kiss for a while. Until we both need air. I want more but I just have to ask her.

"Maysilee?"

"Hmm." She responds

"I don't really want to ruin this moment, but I need to ask you something." I start.

"It's about the Games, isn't it?" She asks.

"Yeah… do you still not want to be in an alliance with me? I ask. I'm hesitant. I don't want to be rejected, but I can understand if she doesn't.

"No, what's the point? I don't want to spend another moment without you. I'd rather risk everything, than constantly be worrying about if you were okay or not. If every cannon shot was announcing your death. I want nothing more than to be in an alliance with you." She says. My heart soars. I am so unbelievably happy to hear this.

"Good, 'cause I don't want to spend another minute without you either. We need to figure out a way to find each other in case we can't meet up in the beginning or if we are split up." I suggest. I feel so much better now.

"You're right. What about a water source? Usually there are distinct ones in the arena. We'll constantly checks those when we can if we aren't together." She adds.

"Sounds great!" I pull her closer. There is nothing better than having her in my arms as we watch the sunset.

It's dark when we decide we should go back to our rooms. We walk holding hands, down the stairs and through the hall to her room.

She hugs me and says, "Stay safe tomorrow."

"Don't worry. Make sure you make it out of the Cornucopia alive, too." I can't stand it if she dies in the blood bath. That right there would probably kill me.

She kisses me again. A quick kiss, but still as overwhelming as the others.

As she opens her door, I head to my room. I turn and look at her for one last time for the night. Her blue eyes are sparkling with joy. I enter my room and lie on my bed thinking about the night.

The last thing I see before drifting into unconsciousness is Maysilee's face, smiling at me after our kiss.

Maysilee

Haymitch and I walk back to our rooms together after the interview recap. All the while see don't speak, which is odd for us. I wonder if he's hurt because I pulled back from him earlier today. I head into my room without saying a word to him.

I feel immensely sad. This isn't how I wanted my last interaction with Haymitch to go before the arena. But maybe it's for the best? Now that we seem to be drifting apart I won't have to be in an alliance with him in the Games. I couldn't stand to be allies with him just to end up being the last two people and then being forced to kill him or die myself. To be honest, I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. I'll always think about the good times we had together here and he's my friend. I can't kill a friend. But, on the other hand, I would love to return to my family. I'm glad the chance of this dilemma happening isn't a possibility now. I just saw Haymitch for the last time before the Games. There's no way we are going to be in an alliance now.

Just then there's a knock at my door. Who on earth could that be? I open the door and Haymitch is standing in the doorframe.

"Haymitch, what are you doing here?" I implore.

Haymitch takes a deep breath and asks me to go to the roof with him. I'm taken aback. We go from not really talking to him wanting to hang out on the roof? I don't know if this is a good idea. I don't want to get closer to him than I already am. It will just be that much harder if I lose him in the Games. But, maybe I can take this opportunity to tell him just that. So I finally agree and we make head up in silence.

Once we are on the roof Haymitch heads to the benches so I follow him and sit down on what seems to be our favorite bench; the one in front of the water fountain. I know I like it because the sound of the water soothes me. I wonder why Haymitch likes it?

I can tell Haymitch has something on his mind so I wait silently for a few minutes to allow him to gather his thoughts.

"Maysilee," he soon begins but seems to stop, still unsure of what to say. So, I decide to voice my thoughts.

"Haymitch, I can't be in an alliance with you." I think this is what he's been trying to ask me and I feel terrible rejecting him. "You're my friend now. I can't lose you and I can't kill you. What am I supposed to do? I can't stand by and watch you die, it wou-" he cuts me off…with a kiss. I'm so shocked that nothing registers in my mind until it's quickly over. I feel like a tornado of butterflies is flapping around in my stomach. I swear my heart stopped in that moment.

Haymitch seems embarrassed by my lack of response on the outside. He has no idea the fireworks of emotions raging through me right now. I'm so elated but scared at the same time. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. I didn't want to become closer with him, now the Games will be unbearable. I can't stand the thought of watching this boy die before my eyes.

Meanwhile Haymitch is mumbling apologies to me, and he looks so cute sitting there obviously flustered and increasingly embarrassed as I'm still sitting still. And before I exactly realize what I'm doing I'm leaning in and this time I'm the one that's stopping a speech with a kiss.

It takes him a moment to realize what I just did and then he's passionately kissing me back. Who was I kidding? There's no way I can stay away from this boy. He's been slowing working his way into my heart this whole time. I've been naïve to deny it. I try to express my feelings towards him with this kiss. To let him now how much I care for him, and I think I succeed.

The only this that stops the kiss is our need for air. I feel so lightheaded and I can't seem to think straight. Plus I can't wipe the happy smile off my face. But I don't mind.

Haymitch pulls me close to him and I cuddle up next to him on the bench. So content in this moment, that not another thought is in my head besides us together right here right now. All thoughts of the Games and not wanting an alliance with him gone from my head.

After awhile Haymitch finally breaks the silence. "Maysilee?"

"Hmm?" I reply.

"I really don't want to ruin this moment but I need to ask you something." He responds.

"It's about the Games, isn't it?" I ask him.

"Yeah…do you still not want to be in an alliance with me?" He asks cautiously. He sounds kind of sad.

"No," I say softly. "What's the point, I don't want to spend another moment without you. I'd rather risk everything than to constantly be worrying about if you were okay or not. If every canon shoot was announcing your death. I want nothing more than to be in an alliance with you." I tell him, feeling the truth of this resonating within me as I speak.

He seems relieved and happy when he replies. "Good, 'cause I don't want to spend another moment without you either. We need to figure out a way to find each other in case we can't meet up in the beginning or if we are split up."

"You're right. What about a water source? Usually there are distinct ones in the arena. We'll constantly checks those when we can if we aren't together." I put it.

"Sounds great!" He tells me and he pulls me closer.

We stay holding each other for another hour before we are forced to acknowledge that we really have to go back to our rooms to get some rest if we want to ensure that we both make it through the first day.

When we're at my door I pull him close and hug him tightly. "Stay safe tomorrow." I whisper in his ear.

"Don't worry." He whispers back. "Make sure you make it out of the cornucopia alive too." He urgently tells me.

"I will." I say as I pull back from the hug but still hold his hands.

I rise up on my tiptoes while I still cling to his hands and plant a light kiss on his lips.

I smile into the kiss and then turn and start to open my door. I turn back around and see him heading down the hall to his room. As he reaches his door he looks back and looks me in the eyes. I see such strong emotions in them that it pains me to finally look away and close the door.

I have strong emotions coursing through me as well and it's these emotions that pull me to a desk in my room that contains a pen and some paper in its drawers. I sit down and begin to write Haymitch a letter. He won't see it before the Games. I'm going to give it to Rosale to give to Haymitch if he wins. I pour my heart out into this letter, hoping that he will be able to read it one day.


	14. Going into the Arena

****We feel so bad for waiting so long for posting a new chapter, so here's another one! (: We hope you enjoy, and please comment!

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><p><strong>Haymitch<strong>

I dream about her. We are in the arena. That big Career guy that told the others to press all of the buttons on the elevator is there. Maysilee is there. And I'm there. The Career guy sees her and she runs. He chases after her with his spear in his hand. He's got this blood crazy look on his face. He's going for the kill. I sprint after him. There is no way I'm going to let him kill her. There's no way I'm going to let her die. Maysilee runs into a clearing.

"Maysilee, WATCH OUT!" I scream and he throws his spear. She turns and starts to jump behind a rock so it hits her on her side instead of full on in the stomach and she falls over in pain. I run over and stab the Career as he turns and I kill him. The cannon sounds and I run to Maysilee. She is breathing heavily and clutching her side.

"Don't die on me! Don't leave me!" I beg her. I don't know what I would do without her.

"Haymitch… Haymitch… Win this. For me." She whispers. I hear the sound of the cannon, announcing her death.

Everything goes black and when the light comes back, I'm someplace new.

The Games are almost at an end. There is the girl from District One, the boy from District Eleven, Maysilee and myself left. A fight has begun. The girl from one and the boy form eleven are in the middle of a battle. Swords flying, axe throwing, it's a violent fight. I'm sure the Capitol is eating up every second, not daring to let their eyes leave the screen. The boy falls, the girl had got him with her axe on the head. The cannon sounds. He is dead. The hovercraft takes his body and the girl spots me. She starts stomping her way over to me, thinking she can beat me, but I throw my spear and hit her square in the chest. She collapses. She is dead. It's just me and Maysilee now. She drops her knife and looks at me. It's an uncommunicative understanding between us. I can't kill her. And she can't kill me. A hovercraft comes and the ladders drop. Two of them. We both step on one and I grab hers to pull it closer to mine. We embrace the whole way to the Capitol. We are the winners of the Fiftieth Annual Hunger Games.

Later, after the final interviews, we are hand in hand on a train back to District Twelve.

The background fades and the setting shifts.

Again we are in the arena and one of the Careers is after Maysilee. A girl. I don't remember from which district but she is trying to kill Maysilee. I'm about ten yards to Maysilee's left and I'm not going to let that happen. I start running towards her. The girl throws her spear at Maysilee at the same time I throw my knife at her, jump in the way and brace myself to take the spear for Maysilee and save her life.

And I awaken. I'm all sweaty and hot and breathing hard. I look at the clock and it's three fifty-nine in the morning. I get a glass of water and chug it. Wow, who would know that dreams could make you so thirsty. And those dreams seemed so real. I guess it's obvious now. I can't kill Maysilee.

I walk back over to my bed and lay back down. The bed is so wet though. I get up and strip it of its sheets and lay back down and go back to sleep. With more Hunger Games dreams awaiting my return to unconsciousness.

It seems like I have just laid my head on the pillow when I hear a pounding on my door. Well, one thing I know for sure is that it is not Rosale. I get up and answer the door. It's Damon.

"Umm, hi…" I'm trying to figure out why he is here. Sampson is supposed to come and give me my outfit for the arena.

"I want to talk to you. You are going into the arena today and I wanted to give you some last words of advice." He says. I feel like there's more too it though. Like I'm a little kid awaiting my punishment.

"Ok." I respond. He comes inside my room, looks at my stripped bed, then at me with a questioning glance, and sits in a chair.

"So, Haymitch. How did you sleep last night?" Damon asks. I've got this nagging suspicion that he has something on his mind.

"Um, well, I woke up sweating from all of the nightmares I had. The never ended and they seemed so real." I answer, unsure of what I'm supposed to say.

"Well, I slept pretty good. Then, I woke up around midnight and went to go and get a drink, and saw you up." He says. He's still holding something back.

"Oh, that's weird. I don't remember that. Maybe I was sleep walking? Or you were hallucinating?" I try, knowing darn well that it's not going to work.

"Sleep walking with Maysilee? Sleep kissing Maysilee? Nice try, boy." He says. I guess he saw us. We didn't see him though. I wonder where he was. "What did I tell you? I said that at least one of you are going to die soon. And you are just going to make it a lot harder on eachother when that happens. And what do you do? You go and kiss the girl! You just go and kiss her!" He reprimands me.

"I can't- Wait a moment! Why is it such a bad thing that we kissed? Yeah sure I surprised her by kissing her, but she didn't mind! She kissed me back right after that! Twice!" I tell him. I can feel my cheeks going red as I sit here and have Damon lecture me on kissing Maysilee.

"So both of you are being stupid! Do you know what this is going to do to you when she dies? Or to her when you die? Or what if you two are the last ones? They have to have a victor. But they won't allow two victors. Did you think about that? Do you remember when I told you this two days ago? I remember you being there when I said that." He yells at me.

"Damon, there is a two percent chance that I will make it out of here alive. And a two percent chance Maysilee will. The odds of us winning are really low. A ninty-eight percent chance that I will die. That's almost one hundred. So we don't have very long left in our lives, so why not make the best of it?" I shout.

"Because it's going to ruin your game. Both of you. It's been so long since I won the games and I'm the only one who has from District Twelve. We need more victors." He pulls me towards him and whispers in my ear. "For one, to mentor the future tributes, and for two, if there is every any shot at a rebellion we need as many victors as we can get. The people will listen to and trust the victors."

"I'm sixteen for crying out loud! Nobody is going to listen to me!" I whisper back.

"Yes, they will. And to tell you the truth, I'm certain that if anyone from Twelve wins, it's going to be either you or Maysilee. Jared has a big mouth and is going to get his butt kicked. And he's pretty mad at you, so expect him to come after you. But you could take him. And Lucy, has already given up on herself. If I had my bet, she won't last more than a couple days. But you and Maysilee, are going to go far. Unless there is a fluke." He seems confident in us. "Or all of this kissing and the emotions screw you up."

"So your saying when you were in the Games, you didn't have a family you wanted to spend more time with or a girl that you wanted to tell her how you felt?" My question caught him off guard. He had to think about this for a couple of seconds.

"Well…yeah, I did. But it was different. She wasn't a contender in the Games with me." He says, almost indifferently.

"Yeah, and you didn't know if you'd ever see her again. With me, I get to see Maysilee until one of us dies. But at least she now knows how I feel and I won't live the rest of my life regretting it, if I were to win the Games. And to answer your question, if it does come down to the two of us, she's going to win." I am certain about that. I would never be able to go home if I had taken her life or if she had given it up for me. Not just because the while district would hate my guts, but I would never be able to live in a place where she should be. Heck, I might even become a drunk like Damon if that happened. But if it comes down to it, after that dream, I know that I will do anything to protect her.

"Oh good!" He says sarcastically. "Now you've got that off of your chest, can we focus on getting you to survive long enough?"

"Whatever." I say, knowing that nothing I say is going to change his mind on how he feels about us. I just hope he's not doing the 'I told you so thing' if that does happen. 'Cause I will kick his butt.

Damon spends the next twenty minutes drilling me with advice. When Sampson comes, he leaves.

"Good luck, Haymitch. Stay alive." And he walks out the door.

Sampson has me dress in black. Pants, shirt, jacket, boots. He doesn't say much. In fact, all he does say is "Put these on" when he hands me my clothes. Then he escorts me to the roof to get on the hovercraft.

After about a two hour ride, we go to our assigned rooms. I eat the plate of food and drink the water set out for me. Even though I am as nervous as heck, I don't know when my next meal is going to be. They're not called the Hunger Games for nothing.

Soon, I am told to load on the metal plate in the center of the room.

I step on the metal plate. It is going to take me into the arena. Then I will have sixty seconds get a visual on my surroundings before the buzzer goes off and I can get off the plate to endure whatever forms of torture the Gamemakers have planned. If I move before the sixty seconds are up, I will be blown to bits. Not such a bad idea compared to the alternative. But I won't leave the plate early. I'm not going to leave Maysilee alone in the arena. That would devastate her. I wonder if it is against the rules to push other people off their plates… If idiot Career guy is next to me. He's bigger than me though. I'd have to really push hard and catch him by surprise. But the Gamemakers have probably made it so the tributes can't do that. One person could cause the domino effect and all of the tributes would be dead. Except for the one that started the pushing. But they might die, too, who knows. And the Gamemakers wouldn't be happy that the Games only lasted about two minutes.

When I am lifted into the arena, I am amazed.

**Maysilee**

The next morning I'm awoken early by Jolene.

"Get up! And throw these on!" she snaps at me.

I can tell she is not an early person. I don't let her get to me though, 'cause as I pull on a pair of black jeans along with some black shoes and a black shirt and jacket, I think of kissing Haymitch last night. I felt so elated! He completely took my breath away. My thoughts wonder the letter I wrote him last night. I was planning to give it to Rosale but now I realize I won't be seeing her today as it's the stylists that are getting us ready for the Games and are escorting us to a hovercraft that will take us to the arena.

Panic starts to rush through my body. Jolene orders me to follow her to the roof but before I follow her out the door I run to my desk and pick up the letter and clutch it to my chest. I guess I'll have to resort to giving it to Jolene in the hopes she'll honor my wish and give the letter to someone that will give it to Haymitch for me if he makes it out alive.

Just as I reach the door I start and realize I'm forgetting one last thing. My token. I rush to a table beside my bed and pick up the mockingjay pin. I can't believe I almost forgot about this! I quickly pin it to my shirt as I race out the door.

When I round the doorframe I run smack into someone.

"Ouch! I'm so sorry!" I say. I look at the person I've run into and see that it's Rosale. It's like the fates are aligning everything for me! "Oh, Rosale! I'm so glad to see you!"

"Hello Maysilee! Please watch where you're going dear, you have me quite the headache!" she responds.

"Yes, I'm sorry!" I say urgently. I really need to get to the chase before I run out of time. "Rosale, I wrote a letter to Haymitch in case he is the one that becomes Victor. Will you see to it that he gets it if it is him?" I plead.

"That's quite the odd request but I'll be sure to do it!" Rosale agrees.

"Thank you so much!" I cry. I thrust her the letter and run up the stairs to the roof without looking back.

I'm so relieved that Haymitch will get that letter from me if we wins. Everything worked out perfectly, apart of me thinks that he is destined to be the victor. But that still doesn't mean I won't try my hardest to do well and make it far. After all, something could happen to him, and if so I need to make it back. For the both of us.

I see Jolene impatiently waiting for me by a ladder hanging from a hovercraft.

"Hurry up now! We haven't got all day!"

When I step onto the ladder something makes me go completely still and then I'm lifted up inside the hovercraft. Rosale quickly follows and we are taken to a portion of the craft designated for me as the tributes are no longer allowed to interact before the Games begin.

After thirty minutes I notice that we are starting to move. That must mean we are all aboard. Well all the tributes from district 12 that is. All the districts ride in there own hovercraft. During regular year each tribute has there own, but with 24 extra people this year it must have been decided that less hovercrafts in the air at the same time would be tremendously easier.

Soon into the ride the window are covered so that we can't see where we are headed. The arena is supposed to be a surprise. None of us knows what we are going into in a matter of hours. The unknown terrifies me. The arena could be anything from a desert to a tropical forest. Wherever we are going there's sure to be deadly creatures to could kill us in our sleep. Anything to entertain the Captiol.

In what feels like two hours someone on the hovercraft beckons us out of the room we were assigned. Jolene and I are escorted back to the ladder which leads us to the catacombs underneath the arena were rooms are built for the tributes to occupy right before they head into the arena. Someone else shows up and takes up to my room. There's not much there. A couch and a table with some food and drinks in a tray situated on top are its main contents. There's also a circle of metal in the middle of the room. Jolene tells me that this is where I stand to be lifted into the arena.

I steer clear of the metal circle while I can. It is associated with ***there's a word I can't get to come out of my head that's supposed be here, lol*** in my head.

I sit down on the couch besides Jolene. She ignores me so I just sip some water while I wait. I'm too nervous to eat anything. Man I hope that my family won't have to watch me die. I don't want to let them down. My thoughts turn to despair as I think about my family.

A voice fills the chamber and interrupts my internal depression.

"Tributes, please make your way onto the metal plate in the center of your rooms." It tells me.

So I stand up and step onto the plate. Jolene just watches and doesn't say a word as a glass cylinder lowers itself down encasing me. I'm claustrophobe so this doesn't help my nerves at all.

I close my eyes and with a whoosh the metal plate lifts me up into the arena. I open my eyes and my jaw drops at what I see.


	15. The Arena

Hi everyone!

We are so so so sorry for the delay for this chapter! we just got busy with RL unfortunatley! :( Well we hope you like this chapter! Please review and let us know what you think! It really truely makes our day to see how much some of you are enjoying this fanfic! :D Thank you sooo much to our readers! We hope you have a fantastic 2012!

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

The arena is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! There are woods all around and in the distance is a snow capped mountain. The Cornucopia itself sits in the middle of a lush green meadow surrounded by wildflowers. The sky is a brilliant blue dotted with white clouds and songbirds. I take a deep breath and my nostrils are assaulted by a delightful smell that seems to be coming from all around.

I'm taken surprised by the sound of the gong that signifies that the sixty seconds of mandatory wait on the metal plates is over. It takes me a few second to get my bearings and then I dart of towards the Cornucopia. It seems that almost everyone else was also dazed by what they saw and some still haven't stepped off their plate. Not Haymitch though, he's already at the center of the Cornucopia picking his supplies. Good, at least one of us will be able to get the valuable stuff. Not that I won't try to get us more useful items.

Just as I reach a mount of items I hear something fly past my ear. I follow the noise to see a knife land inches from where I stand. My head snaps back the way it came and I see a male tribute, though I'm not sure from which District he belongs, starting to grab another knife. I'm not sure if he's targeting me specifically or if he's just throwing at random but I don't want to wait and find out, so I turn and start running towards the woods, hoping that Haymitch will see me so he'll know where I've gone. I pass another mound on my way and I see a backpack sticking out of everything else so I yank it free as I run by.

Once I hit the cover of the trees I sprint a hundred yards further before I stop to catch my breath. I can't see the cornucopia anymore but I can hear the screams of terror emanating from its area. I wasn't able to see what happened to Haymitch through all the ciaos, and a fear erupts as I think about the prospect that he might be dead. He's too smart and skilled to die in the bloodbath though, I think to calm myself. While I try to come up with a plan as to what to do next I decide to look through the backpack I managed to grab.

The contents some dried beef, a bowl, a blowgun, and twenty four darts. Not much, but better than nothing. Especially since I'm not that skilled a hunter so, the food will definitely come in handy. Though I did get some practice with a blowgun during training so at least I know how to work it and maybe I'll actually make some use out of it. If not, I'm sure Haymitch will find it useful.

I can't stay in this spot forever, especially since I'm not that far from the cornucopia, so I decide to start walking in the opposite direction that most of the tributes are likely to be. Maybe I can even find some sort of spring to hopefully meet Haymitch at like we planned.

After hiking for who knows how long I start to hear the cannons. So the initial fighting must finally be over and everyone must have moved far enough from the cornucopia by now. I stop to make sure I catch all of the shots… the blasts continue one after the other until it doesn't seem like it will ever stop. But the ear piercing noise eventually stops and I count eighteen dead. Eighteen! Almost half of us are gone in the first day; that does not bode well at all. With that I continue on my way, hoping to put as much distance between me and those dead bodies as possible. After all, the main killers are still not far from the meadow yet…

The day slowly turns into night and with no sign of Haymitch or water I decide to find a place to camp out for the night. It looks like the trees offer low enough branches that would make them easy to climb but I don't trust my balance to keep me up so I decide to find somewhere on the ground. The bushes aren't close enough to offer any type of shield so it seems like I'm stuff in the open. At that rate I feel like taking my chances with the trees, but not quite. There has to be something I can use as a shelter or a shield around here somewhere… About 10 minutes later I find a medium sized rock formation and after climbing around on it I also find a small little indenture in it that I just might be able to hide in. After lowering myself down it looks like I barley fit will enough room to hid my head from anyone who would pass by, as long as they don't decide to search the rocks like I did.

I'm starting to become thirsty and I know dying from dehydration or starvation is the most common thing, besides being killed by another tribute, to get you killed out here. So, I take out the bowl in my pack and place it next to me in the hope that it will rain tonight.

Just as the sun is setting on the horizon the Capitol's seal lights up the sky. As I watch I see the faces of those who have perished already.

**Haymitch**

It was breathtaking. A truly beautiful place. It's almost comforting. Like a sanctuary.

One of those places you only dream of; a green meadow and little yellow, purple, blue and orange flowers all over. It reminds me of a dream I had relaxing in a meadow and not having to worry about anything.

There is a magnificent mountain to one side, woods to the other and there are little songbirds soaring around everywhere.

But, then I remember why I am here. This place is dangerous, no matter how pretty it is. The gong rings and I'm running. I'm half way to the Cornucopia when I look back and see that nobody is following me. I guess they like the arena. Well, I'm not going to let it fool me. I reach the pile of backpacks and pick out one and grab several good weapons. I see Maysilee running with a Career not far behind her. Everyone else still seems dazed. So I head into the woods to avoid the bloodbath and watch Maysilee.

That Career guy got some knives and threw one at her. I almost went after him, but she ran into the woods about a hundred yards away from me. I stuff a knife in my belt and one in my boot as I start to head in that direction.

I get about a quarter of the way there and one of the girls from District Two sees me. She is a buff girl and about a half a foot taller than me. I think all of the tributes from Two are muscle builders. She has a crazed look in her eyes and I know that if I don't kill her, she will kill me, no doubt about it. And that's not all, she has a machete in each of her hands. Oh crap.

When she reaches me, she doesn't waste any time, she swings at my head and at my stomach with the other. I pull back, duck, avoid the swipes and pull the knife out of my belt and stab her in the stomach while she is off balance. She drops her machetes and leans over in pain. I make a run for it and the guy throwing knives tosses one at her and hits her in the back of the head. She's gone.

Great, I got rid of her. Now I have no idea where Maysilee went. I can't see her anywhere.

I start walking. The arena can't be that big. It has to end somewhere. Maybe I'll find Maysilee. Last I saw she was heading this way. We just have to find the water source. That's where we said we were going to meet up.

I'm out of the bloodshed range. The only way the Careers will find me right now is if they left the Cornucopia before they slaughtered everyone. And they like to slaughter people.

I keep walking. All there is in this place is trees. Well at least where I am. Trees, logs, bushes. So far, there is no water anywhere, and the more I look, the places I run into seem to be less likely to have water. I have no idea how I am going to meet up with Maysilee. If I can't find water, how the heck am I going to find her?

It's getting dark. I have to find a place to sleep. Or at least try to sleep. I trip on a rock and see a big tree with a space in the intricately tangled tree roots. I can hide in there and unless they fall like I did or are on ground level, the others won't be able to slaughter me in my sleep. The downside is that if Maysilee walks by, she won't see me.

Maysilee won't see me. But I want her to be able to find me, if she can. I have an idea. I take a knife and carve an "H" on the tree. If Maysilee sees it, she'll know I'm nearby. If the others see it, well, I don't know what they'll think or do. I'll destroy the mark in the morning. I slide down underneath the roots and get comfortable.

It's a good thing I could get out of here easily though, in every Games, there is a time when the audience gets bored and the Gamemakers do something to draw all of the tributes together to get some excitement.

There is a clearing in the trees above me and I can see the sky. The faces of the tributes that died are up; the ones I don't have to worry about anymore. Eighteen kids dead. Wow. Eighteen. The whole district six is up there. And so is Lucy. Jared is still in the Games. Darn it. But Maysilee's face is not up there. I even double check. Yes, she is still alive. I breathe, actually breathe, and realize that I was holding my breath the whole time.

Finally, now that I know that she is still alive, I can relax.

Boom. Boom. Two more cannons wake me from my sleep.

My thoughts instantly shift to Maysilee. Could that be her? I hope not.

It's the middle of the night. The moon is full and huge as it shines above me with a yellowish tint, making the trees light up. It seems almost peaceful where I am. I wonder where the deaths were. And were the killers are.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. I hear footsteps walking in my direction. They are faint, trying not to be heard, but they are still there.

I turn my body to the direction of the noise, there is a person walking into view with their face covered by their hood. It's not Maysilee. It's a boy walking carefully a few feet away from where I am hidden. I draw my knife from my boot.

He hears the sound of my knife and stops, look around, and his eyes stop on the tree where my "H" is and I can tell that he knows what it means.

Oh crap, I think. This is not good.

He removes his hood and I finally see his face

"Oh Haymitch. Glad I could join you!" Jarod says sarcastically. "Is Maysilee with you? I was kind of hoping for a little district get together."


	16. Poison

****Let me start of by saying WE ARE SO SORRY! We didn't plan to take this long to post another chapter, and hopefully we are faster with getting the next one up for you guys! *crosses fingers* Anyways, I want to thank all of you who still continue to check back often for new chapters, we love you guys so much! 3 Sorry this chapter isn't super long, but it's better than waiting longer for it, right? xD Well we hope you guys like it and we'll try to be much faster this time! Review and let us know what you think of the story so far, we love hearing what you guys have to say! :D Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

The feeling of rain on my face wakes me up from a fitful sleep. It looks to be early morning but it's hard to tell with all of the grey clouds in the sky. It's raining pretty hard still and my bowl is nearly full, so I hurriedly drink most of it and then set the bowl back in its spot on the rocks to collect some more water before the rain stops, which with my luck will probably be soon.

My muscles ache from the cramped position my body was in to allow myself to hide in the rocks so I ease my self up slowly and stretch. No one appears to be around or else I'm sure I would be dead by now, but just in case I take a dart and my blowgun from my pack and set it down beside me in an easy to grab position if I have need of it. Next I take out some of the dried beef and chew on a piece of it while I contemplate where to go from here.

Haymitch and I agreed to meet up at a body of water so I know for sure that's my destination, but finding one proves to be the problem. Just when I've decided to get out of my hole and climb the rocks some more to see if I can find anything helpful I hear something to my right. As I whip my head in that direction I see some leaves rustling and before I am consciously aware of it the blowgun in my hands and when I see the boy's body start to emerge with his blonde head I blow and the dart pierces his body.

I stand there horrified as his body starts to convulse and turn green. The cannon blasts, announcing his death, and dread fills hits. If any other tribute is around they'll know where I am. I have to get out of here. I stuff everything in my bag and as I grab my bowl all the water comes pouring out all over me but at the moment I have bigger things to worry about.

As the hovercraft appears in the sky I half climb half fall down the rocks and sprint off in the opposite direction as fast as I can. Then I start to make random turns to hopefully throw off anyone who might be following, getting soaked in the process from the rain and the water that was dripping down off of the leaves of the trees.

After awhile I slow down and stop to breath. I've never been a runner and now the adrenaline is wearing off and I'm starting to feel the affects of my dash through the trees. I find a rock and sit down. That's when it truly hits me, I killed that boy. I try to tell myself it was self defense, he would have killed me if he'd seen me, but is that true? Maybe he would have offered to form an alliance of some sort… but now I'll never know and his family is back home grieving for their loss. What really scares me though is how instinctual that was for me, it's almost as if I didn't even need to think. I've never killed anything before, not even those little ants you find in the summertime all over the place. So why was it so easy for me to pick up that gun and kill him…?

I shoot up realizing I've been in one spot for too long as I take off again, trying to keep those thoughts out of my head. Instead I switch my focus to finding water. I hear a faint noise coming from my left that sounds like water to me, but for all I know it could just be my wishful thinking and the sound of the rain isn't helping any. In any case, there's only one way to find out….

After hiking a ways in that direction I finally find the source of the noise I was hearing; a small steam! I've finally found a source of water and with any luck it will help me find Haymitch.

Since I knocked over my water in my haste to get away I decide to take a drink from the stream since my dash through the woods left my mouth feeling dry. I set my pack down and kneel next to the waters edge and plunge my hands into the water. It's icy cold but feels nice after running and so I scope some up and bring it to my mouth. As I'm about to sip the water up I notice a faint smell coming from the water and hesitate. Instead I bring the water closer to my nose and then fling it away in disgust. I hurriedly back away as I grab my pack and then rub my hands on my pants to get the water off.

I remember learning something from my survival course during the training days. Something very important that could easily get someone killed who isn't familiar with what to look for, who isn't familiar with the properties substances portray when they are poisonous.

**Haymitch**

I was right. Oh crap. He knows I'm here and he is crazy. He's had it out for me ever since Damon said that Maysilee and I becoming friends was a good thing.

Great. So now I've got a psychotic jerk on my tail. And to make it worse, if I try to escape, he's in the perfect position to kill me, even if he doesn't know exactly where I am.

What should I do? Stay quiet and make him think he's wrong? Or fight him, even though the advantage is with him at the time? Or trick him? I'm not sure how I could do that but it sounds like the best idea. If I tried to stay quiet, I don't think he would believe it and would still wait. And the longer I wait the more time I give him to find me. But, if I tried to fight him, I'd either have to come up with a plan or be really, really lucky.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are, Haymitch. You know I'll find you." He taunts. His eyes keep looking all over trying to find me.

What could I use to trick him? There is a small rock next to me. It could be useful. I pick it up. What could I use this for? It could probably knock Jarod out if I had good enough aim. I don't think that will happen though. I could throw it anywhere to avert his attention and then attack him… Or I could—

My thoughts got interrupted by Jarod. He's gotten board and started looking for me. He's searching through the bushes and searching the trees. He looks directly at the roots that hide me and stops.

Oh crap he found me, I think. I see the murderous look in his eyes as he stomps his way over to where I am. He pulls out his knife and trips on the same rock that I did. Our faces are only two feet apart. He glares at me. I take the chance and jump out of my hiding spot, holding my knife and standing in a ready position. He leaps up and starts yelling at me.

"Well the 'Golden Tribute of District Twelve' final finds some courage!" He jeers.

"You are still on about that? Just because Damon approved of what I was doing doesn't make me the 'Golden Tribute' and Maysilee was with me, too. What is she, then?" How crazy is this idiot? The golden tribute? Wow, he is seriously messed up.

"I guess you are both the Golden Tributes." He answers. "Now tell me what you guess that Damon thought was so good!"

"Well here's what we did. We came up with a full proof plan to win the Games." I lied. I'm getting so sick and tired of him. When I don't elaborate, he gets mad.

"Well what was the plan?" He demands.

"It's really difficult to understand. I doubt your little brain can handle it." I taunt.

"I don't care how difficult it is…wait my brain is not little!" A little slow on the uptake there, now aren't we, Jarod.

"Oookaay. If you really want to know, we were actually going to involve you. We figured you fiery rage and bravery would come in handy." I sweet talk him. He's really not going to like this! I'll probably get my butt kicked by irritating him. What's that old saying though... Opp—no…Cha—no… Oh darn it. I can't remember. Oh well. "We were going to ambush the Cornucopia. Just going to have you run, out in the open, waving your weapons in our hands like a crazy person."

He looks eager to be involved. Jumping up and down like a little kid. "Ok, and what will you do?" he asks.

"Maysilee and I would be hiding on the other side of the Cornucopia and while you are distracting them, we would be taking all of their food and weapons. Then we would give you the signal and you would lead the Careers toward the mountain." I continue, completely making this up as I go along.

"Ok this sounds like a good plan! When do we start?" He's really falling for this? "Wait a minute… I lead them away? How many Careers are there left? Hmmm…" He's thinking about it. I head over to the tree with my "H" and peel off the bark with the marking using my knife. "Just a sec… that's going to get me killed." He's finally catching on. I notice he never picked up his knife from when he fell.

"You see, that's kind of the point. I don't like you, in fact I despise you. And Maysilee hates you, too. And there's just the little problem of the fact that we want one of us to be the winners… not you."

"You lied to me. That was never you plan! What is your real plan?" He shouts.

"Well, for one, you have to shut up or you are going to bring everyone over here, and I can't have that because, well, I might die. I don't give a crap about you, but I don't want to die." I say.

He reaches for his belt to grab his knife, but it's not there. He dives for it and falls head first into a flowery plant. He takes a few breaths and then is silent. He's dead. I walk over to him and take a better look at the plant. It's a light blue color and had a wisp of faint pink air coming out of the buds. Poison. I get up and look around at the other plants.

If these flowers are poisoned, then who's to say that the rest of the plants here aren't?


	17. Reunion

**Hey guys, here's another chapter. We hope you like it, enjoy! :D**

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><p><strong>Maysilee<strong>

After the initial shock wears off I take a moment to contemplate what this means.

I drank the rain water and so far I seem fine so I am going to assume that that water is okay to drink, because they can't make all of us die from dehydration or else that would prove to be a boring game and it is the quarter quell after all. So that means that all of the other water sources are off limits, which might extend to the plants since they survive by getting water from the streams for the most part….

Which means another form of sustenance is gone and the dwindling supply of food that I have left immediately seems smaller. And who knows if the animals are safe to eat…but if they aren't how do they expect us to live? Oh right, we aren't. But they usually like the games to last more than a few days, though on the other hand you can last three weeks without food but only days without water which they seem to be providing for us… Three weeks without food, could I even last that long? No, the games are usually over in about two and the only way I'd live that long would be if I am crowned Victor and that would men that Haymitch is, no, I won't think of that now. I know he can make it, he's smart enough to figure out the poison and he's a fighter so I just know he will be the one to live, unless we are the last two left, than what will we do…?

Since we agreed to meet at a water source I decide to follow the stream but at a ways away for two reasons. For one, the poisonous water kinda creeps me out, and two the trees will offer some cover from any eyes that are also watching the stream.

And so I take off following the stream as in falls down a hill stopping now and then to let the rain collect in my bowl, taking small sips here and there.

After a couple of hours I walk right into a clearing and immediately know something is wrong. There's the remains of a fire that looks like it is still emitting some smoke as if it was recently put out. The feeling that I am being watched starts to form and I quickly make sure I have my blowgun ready as I set my bowl down and take out a dart but before I can put it in I hear a noise to my left and before I can react the wind is knocked out of me and I'm falling to the ground from someone barreling into me.

I try to sit up but I'm being pinned down and I see something silver in the corner of my eye and quickly move my left arm up to protect my self and scream out in pain as blood starts pouring out of the wound that I just received.

That's when I realize it's the girl who tried to kill me back at the Cornucopia. I'm blinded from the pain but know there is more to come and try to get away but she is too strong. Then I realize I'm still clutching the dart and so with as much force as I can muster I bring my right hand into the side of her leg and roll away as the effects of the dart immediately take place.

Since I know what it about to happen I decide to grab the knife she was holding that is now lying next to her twitching body as well as my bowl of water, again spilling its contents, and run as fast as I can back into the trees without looking back to avoid seeing the aftermath of the dart's full effects.

I keep heading in the direction I was going literally ten minutes ago and even though I'm running as fast as I can to get away from the clearing without making too much noise I still hear the cannon as it fires because they are made so that any tribute within the Arena can hear it. And that's one more person who is dead because of me…

For awhile I keep going in a fast pace following the stream from a distance in the trees when I hear something up ahead. The noise is kinda loud and as I creep forward I realize it's the sound of people fighting. My first instinct is to run away and just as I'm about to do just that I step forward more because what if it's Haymitch in the fight? And what if he needs my help? And that settles it; I can't go on if there is the slightest chance that Haymitch is in that fight.

I start heading in the direction of the noise but before I've made it a couple of feet a cannon sounds and the fear cuts so deep that it might be Haymitch that I freeze. But maybe it's not him, and even if it is I want to see him one more time and so I trudge on.

This time I have a dart ready in my blowgun and so when I make it to the trees just outside of where the fight has broken out I'm ready to kill him, the tribute who is choking Haymitch.

There's just one problem. What if I accidentally hit Haymitch instead? I'd never be able to live with myself, especially if I won the games…

But there he is, with his face starting to turn purple and I know I have to try. So I aim as best I can blow through the gun.

And it hits the target! The tribute immediately releases his hold on Haymitch and slumps onto the ground sideways.

The cannon sounds and that's another tribute that I've killed but I saved Haymitch so it doesn't quite hit me like the others did.

"Hey stranger." I say as I walk towards him without giving too much away to the Capital since there is no way they would allow either of us to live for very long if they knew there was something special between us.

"Hey." He replies. "You are alive. Good. District Twelve still has a chance. Thanks for saving me there."

"No problem." I reply and then add, "We'd live longer with two of us." That way it looks like I am initiating an alliance and gives us a reason to stick together, after all there have been many alliances in the games, especially among district partners, so this will not seem out of the ordinary to anyone.

"Guess you just proved that," he says back to me and I can tell he's trying hard not to give anything away either. "Allies?"

I nod my head in agreement and reach my hand down to him and pull him back up and I fight the urge to never let go.

**Haymitch**

After my discovery of the poisonous plants, I'm really worried for Maysilee. Well, I was worried for her to begin with, but now that I know that there are deadly plants all over the arena, and she might not know that yet. I don't want her to get hurt or die.

I take Jarod's back pack and weapons before the hovercraft comes for him. I watch as it picks up and he is out of the games for good.

As much as I like this place to hide, I know I have to find her. If she doesn't know about the poisoned plants… I can't even think about it right now.

I pack up my food and weapons, check the area for any marks that show that there was someone here, and leave. I'm not going to stop until I find her.

I start heading away from the mountain, there's got to be an end somewhere. If I just keep walking, I'm sure I'll find it somewhere. Maybe there is something I can use…

But, I also have to find her. Either she or I have to win this thing. And I'm going to do my best to make sure that that is the way this thing ends up.

Water source. That is where we were supposed to meet. I have to find it.

Snap. What was that? I look around. I'm not alone. There is someone else here and they are hiding from me. So that rules out Maysilee. She wouldn't hide from me. We are in an alliance.

One of the Careers jumps out from behind a tree. He has a knife but I get to him first and stab him in the stomach. I turn to find another one right behind me and his knife slices my arm. I thrust the knife into his leg and then his chest.

I turn to see if there are anymore. I don't see any.

I hear a grunt and spin around. I see a last tribute coming at me. He caught me by surprise and my knife goes flying. I am disarmed. Oh crap. He's got a hold on me and a knife to my throat. Oh crap. Here it is. The end. I hope Maysilee can win this.

I close my eyes and hope for a quick death. I just want to die. I don't want it dragged out.

I keep waiting, but nothing happens. In fact, his grip lessens and he falls to the ground. Oh crap. There is someone else here. I see a dart sticking out of his back.

I look and see that Maysilee is here. Hiding behind a tree, dart gun in hand. I resist the urge to smile. If the Gamemakers know how I feel about her they will make sure that we don't last. I want her to at least have a chance if I don't make it.

"Hey stranger." She says.

"Hey." I say. "You are alive. Good. District Twelve still has a chance. Thanks for saving me there."

"No problem." She responds. I wish I could tell her how glad I am that she is alive, that I would have be heartbroken if she wasn't, that I am happy that we are together now and that I can see her again. But I can't. I can't say any of that, and it's killing me not to. And nobody knows that we made an alliance beforehand so we can't just jump into one now.

"We'd live longer with two of us."

"Guess you just proved that," I say. "Allies?"

She nods.

I am happy. I found Maysilee and I don't have to worry about her anymore. She is with me and all is well, for now at least.


End file.
